CHINA - Rethinking Conservation: Ecotourism Offers Hope for Chinese Ecosystems and the People Who Live in Them

Laojun Mountain has long been considered sacred to the Chinese minority groups who call it home. Flanking the foothills of the Himalaya in northwestern Yunnan province, the region contains more than 100 species of wild rhododendron, nearly 100 known mammal species, and over 150 distinct bird species. Many of these plants and animals are highly endangered, including two species of the Yunnan Golden Monkey, of which less than 1,500 exist in the wild. Yet despite these ecological riches, the region’s human residents remain poor and marginalized, left behind in the rapid economic development occurring around them..

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