Sino-Dutch conservation scheme protects Yunnan forests

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 ◆ Sino-Dutch conservation scheme protects Yunnan forests

A Sino-Dutch conservation project to protect the rich biodiversity of tropical forests is making a difference in southwest China's Yunnan Province.

Launched in 1999, the five-year program aims to safeguard tropical and sub-tropical forest resources in six west Yunnan nature reserves in Simao Prefecture, Baoshan City, the Lisu Autonomous Prefecture of Nujiang and the Dai-Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture of Dehong.

The conservation program is designed to improve forest functions, strengthen management within a two-km radius of the reserves, protect the bio-diversity and ecology inside these protection zones, and reduce the threat to the forests from human activities, insect pests and fires.

The Dutch government is providing 15 million US dollars for the program.

The project has produced encouraging results over the past three years, according to Yunnan Provincial Forestry Bureau data. No damage to vegetation in the reserves has been found and the numbers of wild animals like Asian buffalo and gibbons have risen.

There have also been no forest fires reported in the past three years.