probably better financed than most PAs in China. The Macarthur Foundation
supported the reserve by sending experts and establishing experimental
stations (beginning in 1993–94). In 1998, the Netherlands government struck
an agreement with China to provide assistance to several PAs in Yunnan
Province, including Mt Gaoligong, principally to train personnel. Most of the
reserve’s funding is from governments. The central government paid for
construction of facilities and roads as well as for planning expenses associated
with the reserve’s development. To establish testing and collection centers for
the reserve’s work in the inventory of species and critical habitats, the central
government has spent RMB$700000, the province RMB$200000 and the
municipality RMB$400000 (US$86313, US$24661 and US$49322 respec-
tively). Salary support comes partly from the central government, but mainly
in the form of supplements from Baoshan county and Yunnan Province. Only
the province and county have budget line-items for the Mt Gaoligong Nature
Reserve; at the national level, funding is available in program categories only.
Finally, and discussed more fully below, the reserve benefits financially from
an eco-tourism enterprise. The budget for the reserve in 2005 is RMB$2–3
million (US$246000 to 370000).
Budget figures vary from year to year as do numbers of staff. In 2005, Mt
Gaoligong PA had 140 employees; a few years earlier there were 161
employees. Approximately 20 percent of the staff are college-educated,
including the Director who took a BSc in zoology at Yunnan University. About
40 percent have ‘equivalent training’, which means that they may have
finished middle or high school and have taken adult education courses on a
self-study basis, through a technical institute at the provincial capital in
Kunming. The Director commented: ‘It is very difficult to do this and requires
a high degree of motivation’. The remaining 40 percent of staff (drivers,
custodians and the like) have little formal education. The reserve lacks the
staff expertise and facilities to conduct scientific work; instead, staff collect
samples which are sent to Kunming institutes for analysis.
Given the hostility of villagers to the establishment of the nature reserve, its
managers have devoted considerable attention to economic, political, and
cultural development projects. During the early phases of reserve evolution,
managers allowed a doubling of residents in the experimental zone of the PA.
It assisted in the construction of homes. In a combination of protective and
economic development work, it helped residents in reforestation and urged
them to combine planting crops with planting trees. It encouraged the use of
coal and other fuels instead of firewood for cooking fires. Also, the
management developed a small methane gas industry and founded an eco-
tourism enterprise, the basis of which is birdwatching. Still in the early stage
of development, this enterprise has targeted tourists from the US, Europe, and
Japan. Its objectives:
Protected areas and biodiversity conservation 119