Program helps locals live with elephants

Rural communities in Yunnan province shown alternative ways to live off the land

By Chen Liang in Jinghong, Yunnan | China Daily | Updated: 2024-06-19 09:32
Share
Share - WeChat
Cao Dafan visits Daotangqing village in Jinghong. CHEN LIANG/CHINA DAILY

Beekeeping

In June 2020, IFAW China, in collaboration with the Mengyang Protection Station of Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve and the Rainforest Foundation of Xishuangbanna, a local nonprofit, the "Community Livelihood Development to Promote Asian Elephant Protection" project was launched in Daotangqing village, Mengyang township, Jinghong.

This community, comprising 34 households and 150 residents of the Yi ethnic group, had relocated from the core area of the national nature reserve in the late 1990s to aid in the conservation of Asian elephants, a species under national first-class protection, said Cao Dafan, program officer of the AEP program.

Following their relocation, however, wild elephants also ventured into the area surrounding the village. Once in 2022, Cao said, the villagers witnessed a visit of a herd of 22 wild elephants.

On May 10, Zhang Jiangmei, a villager, said that an elephant visited a stream near the hamlet in the evening to have a drink and a bath.

Cao said that the primary source of income for villagers is derived from cultivating rubber trees. However, due to a decline in rubber prices over the past few years, their incomes have also experienced a notable decrease.

"So we worked to help the community explore some alternative sources of income to reduce their dependency on rubber trees," he said.

At first, Cao and his colleagues decided to promote beekeeping in the village. "Beekeeping is eco-friendly, good for crop cultivation and easy for villagers to learn and master," he said.

In 2020, the project invested 75,000 yuan ($10,600) to acquire 100 hives of the Chinese bee and an additional 100 empty beehives and distributed them to 10 families in the Daotangqing village.

In addition to providing training on beekeeping techniques, Cao and his team also helped the beekeepers establish management rules.

One of these rules includes prohibiting the introduction of wild swarms of bees into the hives, Cao said. It helps maintain the health and productivity of the bee colonies, he explained.

Between 2020 and last year, he said, beekeeping generated an income of about 200,000 yuan for the participants in the project.

However, there was an unexpected setback.

Between September and October last year, the bee population in Daotangqing experienced a significant drop, with half of the bees perishing, Cao said. The villagers soon found the cause — a species of hornet that was being cultivated in a nearby village attacked the Chinese bees at Daotangqing, feeding on their pupa.

"In Xishuangbanna, hornet pupa is considered a delicacy," Cao said. "So some people have cultivated the aggressive species to meet the market demand."

After negotiations between the two communities, the hornet cultivators agreed to cease their practice. Because of the incident, Cao said, the population of the bees at Daotangqing needs some time to restore.

|<< Previous 1 2 3 4 Next   >>|
Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
主站蜘蛛池模板: 亚洲狠狠狠一区二区三区| 国产成人免费全部网站| 中文字幕欧美成人免费| 欧美成在线观看| 午夜dj在线观看免费高清在线| 精品91自产拍在线| 在线视频欧美日韩| 中文无遮挡h肉视频在线观看| 欧美国产日韩在线观看| 免费能直接在线观看黄的视频| 麻豆人人妻人人妻人人片AV| 国模大胆一区二区三区| 三人交bangbangbang| 日韩小视频在线观看| 亚洲成av人片在线观看无码 | 亚洲日本va午夜中文字幕一区 | 天天想你在线视频免费观看| 久久99精品视频| 机巴太粗太硬弄死你| 亚洲狠狠婷婷综合久久久久| 精品国产不卡一区二区三区| 国产人妖chinats| 人人澡人人澡人人澡| 国内精品久久久久久无码不卡| 一本色道无码道在线观看| 日本中文字幕在线观看视频| 亚洲av无码专区国产不乱码| 毛片免费观看视频| 免费一看一级毛片| 翁止熄痒禁伦短文合集免费视频| 国产大秀视频在线一区二区| 六月丁香色婷婷| 国内a级毛片免费···| xxxx69中国| 成人毛片18女人毛片免费| 久久国产精品免费一区| 欧美xxxxx69| 亚洲小说区图片区另类春色| 漂亮诱人的女邻居| 免费在线视频你懂的| 精品综合久久久久久98|