The Mobilization of “Nature”: Perspectives from North-west Yunnan

Abstract

The Yunnan Great Rivers Project is a collaborative conservation and development project between the Yunnan provincial government and The Nature Conservancy. Transnational environmental projects of this kind must be brought more critically into view in order to understand the competing discourses and struggles over nature as the west is opened for investment. In this case the subject of ethnographic enquiry is a county-level workshop sponsored by The Nature Conservancy which drafted a petition eventually presented to the State Council requesting an end to mountaineering on a “sacred” Tibetan mountain. This case study raises a series of questions about the politics of ethnic minority empowerment and disempowerment and the transforming role of transnational environmental activity, including the production of biological and cultural knowledge.

Tibetan sacred sites conserve old growth trees and cover in the eastern Himalayas

“…Biological indices, though useful for generating statistics and conservation policy, are not required to appreciate the role of sanctity in the Khawa Karpo region; simple observation and discussion with local villagers reveals the importance of sacred areas in a rapidly changing landscape. Road construction, an economy shifting towards wage labor, and increased tourism are modifying land use patterns in northwest Yunnan at an unprecedented rate (Litzinger 2004). In light of these abrupt changes, and recognizing the ecological wealth of the Hengduan Mountains, conservation organizations from around the globe are now working with the Yunnan Provincial government to develop conservation strategies and action plans.…”

“…Areas of particular significance for the Tibetan cosmology are typically delimited in several ways: via ritual, such as incense burning, flying prayer flags, and circumambulation; via structures, such as temples, monasteries, mani piles and walls, stupas, and prayer wheels; or via restrictions on human use, such as limitations or prohibitions on hunting and logging. The ri-vgag ('door of a mountain') is physically manifested as a contour line, above which is an entirely sacred realm and below which is a secular realm in which, nonetheless, there are sacred areas and sites (Guo 2000;Litzinger 2004). …”

China’s Indigenous Peoples? How Global Environmentalism Unintentionally Smuggled the Notion of Indigeneity into China

“…Khawa Karpa (Chinese: Meili Xueshan) as an inviolate site. This request was approved, and subsequently a Tibetan mountain climbing team's trip on Khawa Karpa was canceled [65]. During the time that TNC advocated for this status TNC staff reported that Tibetans seemed to support this designation, but after approved by law, it became clear that there were different views.…”

Travelling ethics: Valuing harmony, habitat and heritage while consuming people and places

“…However, this is one that binds them to the soil (and the water and the plants) in powerfully localised identities. This forms part of a marketisation where ethnicity is another renewable resource (Litzinger, 2004) linked and locked to habitats. For plans to turn Yunnan into a "Great Cultural Province" and a "Green Economy Province" they come to be seen as resources (Xu et al, 2005).…”