The National Nature Reserve Of Gansu Xinglongshan Horse Musk Deer Protection, Community Livelihoods And The Relationship Between Research,

The musk deer is famous for the medicinal value of musk. And it is rare resources in China. It is listed as first class of national protected species by Chinese government. Because of the decline of habitat and disturbance by humans, the population of musk deer is dropping in China. Musk deer is endangered now. This study was carried out during2010to2011. With the methods of structured interview and unstructured interview, the author shows the relationships among the protection of musk deer, the community livelihoods and ecotourism. In addition, the population viability analysis (PVA) of the captive breeding population has been used. The main research results are as follows:1. There are324musk deer in Xinglongshan captive breeding center Under the existing carrying captivity of breeding houses, the100years at the average increase rate is0.08, the maximum population size is550(549.82) during100years. As for infectious disease, the mortality of newborn musk deer and carrying capacity of breeding houses can influence the population dynamics.2. For villagers, the cognizance of musk deer is as follows:96.6%of villagers know the preservation of musk deer;93.6%of villagers know the medicinal value of musk,83.8%of villagers are aware of the current presence of musk deer;72.5%of villagers know musk deer are endangered. Attributing to policy outreach, societal values, livelihood types, and the position of villages, the cognizance of musk deer issues varies among communities.3. Villagers have got the knowledge of policy from the outreach by reserve staff, village committee and relatives. The support of policy is as follows:96.6%of the villagers support the preservation of musk deer;96.1%of the villagers support forestry restrictions;81.4%of the villagers support converting cropland to forest;50.5%of the villagers support the grazing ban. Support levels and the impact to livelihoods differ between communities.4. The cognizance of the chance of getting jobs from captive breeding center is lower than8.6%, whereas22.2%express desire to gain employment at the centre. And the villagers prefer to supply feed or be the breeders. Meanwhile,90.2%of the villagers hold that the captive breeding center of musk deer should play an important role in preserving musk deer.Some of the villagers want to participate in the three modes of use and protection of musk deer. Despite lack of breeding technology, economic investment, interests and unavailability of labor, a few villagers want to try. Interested in protection is driven by economic interests and a desire to ensure long-term survival of the musk deer. By the measures of increasing technology and reducing the investment, the villagers' willingness will change.5. Tourism disturbs the wild population of musk deer, but it can bring economic benefits to the surrounding areas. Therefore, banning tourism is not feasible. Villagers that engage in tourism management show higher awareness of the value of ecology protection. For tourists, the cognizance of existence of musk deer, endangerment of musk deer, preservation of musk deer are lower than the local villagers'.6. Based on the research results, the managers of Gansu xinglongshan nature reserve should pay due attention to the difference from gender, occupation and village location in musk deer protection and policy outreach; the ecology conservation policy outreach should be integrated with daily life necessities and realities, in order to raise villager support and buy-in; the status of passive receiving of natural protection policy should be solved by some reasonable measures; responsible economic use of musk deer should be used as the principal approach to raising the consciousness of the need to protect the musk deer; reform and enhance the transparancy of the existing tourism mode to improve local tourism income; ensure that tourism income is used for ecological protection; encourage villager participation in the local tourism management in order to enhance protection consciousness; pay attention to the environmental outreach to tourists, so that the protection consciousness and behavior can be enhanced.Captive breeders should treat the musk deer as wild animals and apply appropriate rearing methods; strengthen pathological study of musk deer in order to control the spread of infectious diseases; summarizing experience of breeding newborn musk deer, so that the mortality can be reduced; exploring more breeding modes to carry out the trouble of breeding houses carrying capacity, the captive breeding center should be a positive role in protection of musk deer through outreach and cooperation with the local residents.