Development Approach And Strategy Of Alternative Livelihood In The Integrated Ecosystem Management Demo Area Of Sichuan Baoxing

The conservation and sustainable management of natural resources has become one of the most urgent commonly concerned tasks in the word since 1990's. How to avoid the conflicts between the ecological protection and the livelihood development of surrounding communities is the most sensitive and difficult problems. How to help local fanners to stop overexploitation and unsustainable utilization of natural resources, improve the livelihood level of community farmers, make the society-economy-environment develop in harmony, and maintain the sustainable development is a great challenge to both ecologist and sociologist. Implementating alternative livelihoods by changing the irrational cultivation structure and farming patterns can improve the land utilization and productivity. It develops intensive industrials by changing the extensive culture model and the distribution of physical capital though using more economical and more environment-friendly way replace the firewood. It can also reduce the cost of energy using by changing the energy structure and facilities in rural areas, and deforestation shrubbery vegetation and environmental pollution. It will maintain the stability of regional ecosystems through rational arranging types of ecosystems and restoration of biodiversity. It is crucial to take advantages of regional resources to develop special industries and modern agriculture by utilizing the natural resources scientifically and rationally to achieve sustainable balance between human and nature.In this study, integrating ecological protection into community development was kept as the basic principle. The rural rapid assessment, interviewing with key persons, ecological protection of publicity, combining point and surface and other forms of survey research methods have been used to investigate three hundred typical households of nine communities in Baoxing integrated ecosystem management demonstration area. The seminars, semi-structure interview, questionnaire and document retrieval was used to investigate the living conditions of community farmers, traditional and alternative livelihood modes fully. It was analyzed the survival of status quo, the livelihood conflicts and their root from the basic conditions, household income and expenditure and living conditions of communities' farmers in demo area. The results showed that the conflicts between the traditional livelihoods and integrated ecosystem management. The conflicts are as follows: firstly, expansion needs of cultivated land resources and natural resource protection; Secondly, stocking-based culture model and natural vegetation protection; Third, the disordered collection of forest products and biodiversity protection; Fourth, irrational exploitation of mineral resources and the sustainable management; Finally, wood-based energy consumption and sustainable energy consumption and so on. The unsustainable using of natural resources is the root of conflicts.According to the survey data, we evaluated the applicability that the intercropping of food and cash crop, Chinese medicine, organic tea, organic konjac, pepper and other typical planting alternative models, eco-pigs, bees, mountain dark-bone chickens, yak, wool-rabbit and other culture alternative models, methane, small hydropower, saving stoves, fuel forest and other energy alternative models, collection and domesticated wild mushrooms, wild medicinal herbs and forest vegetables, eco-tourism, stone deep processing and other exploitation alternative models, special local products, community stores, working and labor export etc. management alternative models. It also includes sightseeing and leisure type, "pig-biogas-forest" type and courtyard type eco-agriculture models. Based on the standards of economic, social and ecological efficiency, we can seek the actual sustainable alternative livelihoods models for Baoxing. The ecology, sociology theory and the concept of integrated ecosystem management was kept as guide to coordinate the ecological protection and economic development. The people-oriented and rational distribution was kept as the principle. We will base on the township that giving the alternative livelihoods models about spatial and temporal overall layout in demonstration areas from 2008 to 2010.The development scale and their benefits of alternative livelihoods of nine communities in demonstration area by research are as follows: (1) Planting alternative: developing economic crops 8 million m~2, herbal medicines 32.016 million m~2, organic tea 18.01 million m , fruits 14.21 million m~2, pepper 3.2 million m~2, walnut 5 million m~2, chestnut 4.67 million m~2. The expected economic benefits is 341.4 million Yuan. (2) Culture alternative: culture Ya fish 1.1 million larvae, bee 34500 barrel, mountain dark-bone chicken 0.12 million rats, goat 810 hundred rats, 420 hundred head of yak, meat-rabbit 250 hundred rats and wool-rabbit 0.278 million rats. The expected economic benefits is 157.9 million Yuan. (3) Energy alternative: building 83 hundred biogas digesters, 46 hundred saving stoves and planting fuel trees 6.14 million m~2. The standard coal consumption could be saved by 17680 t. (4) Exploitation alternative: collected 55 ton forest vegetables, processed vegetables 50 ton, received 28 ten thousand person times passengers, produced heavy calcium carbonate 400,000 ton, stone carving 12,000 m3, marble processing 1.35 million m3. The expected economic benefits is 523.724 million Yuan. (5) Management alternative: building one hundred special outlets, 86 community supermarkets, export of labor 12,300 person times. The expected economic benefits is 63.688 million Yuan. (6)Eco-agriculture: formulating 1100 household sightseeing and leisure type, 8500 household "pig-biogas-forest" type and 10,300 household courtyards. The expected economic benefits is 62.3 million Yuan. Estimated by 2010, Baoxing Integrated Ecosystem Management demonstration area of alternative livelihoods (except energy alternative) will be produced total economic benefits of 1149 million Yuan. The standard coal consumption could be saved by 17680 t. Moreover, alternative livelihoods are good for promoting the rural economy to develop healthily and rapidly. The farmers' income, production and living conditions will be improved greatly.Finally, promoting alternative livelihoods models and management countermeasures are implemented effectively in the Integrated Ecosystem Management (IEM) demo area of Baoxing. Ensuring the livelihood models can be realized replacement successfully, and promoting local economy will be developed benignly. Especially, this paper puts forward some integrated management Strategies about the development of alternative livelihoods.