Yunnan, PR China

The mountainous nature of the province limits cultivable land to 10.6% of the total, yet farmers compose 80–95% of the labor force. Cultivation is intensive. Terraced farmlands encircle the hills and mountains and traverse the smaller areas of river basins and floodplains. Apart from subsistence crops, Yunnan grows rice, wheat, and other grains as major cash crops.

More than 50 scenic spots of exceptional beauty make Yunnan a major tourist center, while the province abounds in natural resources. Over one third of the land is forested, twice the average elsewhere in PR China. Yunnan not only has more species of tropical, subtropical, temperate, and frigid-zone plants than anywhere else in the country, but also has many ancient derivative plants, as well as species introduced from abroad.

As a predominantly rural province, the sustainable management of renewable resources and mitigation of the adverse effects of economic growth are important for Yunnan.

Environmental concerns in the Province include land degradation, threats to biodiversity, inland water pollution, inadequate waste management, forest degradation, the impact of natural disasters, and climate change. Access to relevant data and the quality of environment-related information is also an issue.

CEP-BCI work in Yunnan

CEP-BCI has facilitated two rounds of environmental performance reporting to examine progress made by Yunnan in safeguarding its environment  In the south of Yunnan, the Xishuangbanna Tropical Rainforest Landscape has been established as a CEP-BCI biodiversity conservation corridor site. One of the many activities at the site included a climate change vulnerability assessment as part of CEP-BCI work on community-based climate change adaptation.

The Province has also been involved in two strategic environmental assessments (SEA), one on transport and trade in the North-South Economic Corridor, and the other on tourism in the Golden Quadrangle.

Click here to learn more about CEP-BCI work in Yunnan.