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Guardians
of the Forest

How China’s community forest rangers are determined to save the environment.

In the mountains of Southwest China, a team of more than a dozen local villagers is slowly trudging through a dense forest of lichen-covered coniferous trees. It’s a steep climb that rewards them with breathtaking mountainous views of Yunnan Province, which once inspired writer James Hilton to write the 1933 classic ‘Lost Horizon’ about love and purpose in the remote community of Shangri-la.

But where the residents of nearby Cikatong village in Diqing Prefecture might have patrolled the forest paths looking for game to hunt or hardwood trees to fell, their descendants now patrol the area to prevent such behaviors and protect the environment. As government-employed forest rangers, they check for snares and traps, install infrared cameras to monitor endangered wildlife, and listen for the tell-tale sounds of a distant chainsaw.

Protecting Their Homes

Their mission, though, is about more than just keeping the forests as pristine as they were in Hilton’s day. In 1998, unregulated logging in the area contributed to deadly flooding of the Upper Yangtze River. Even today, mudslides remain a constant threat during the rainy season. Villagers play a vital role in ensuring that the forests are healthy enough to maintain the region’s ecological balance.

Only by protecting the mountains will the mudslide problem be resolved. Trees will prevent the mudslide from occurring.

Rong Sanbu, a 26-year-old official in the nearby Xiaruo township forestry department, who accompanied the Cikatong rangers on their patrol.

Beyond the mountains of Yunnan, the Chinese government has turned to community forest rangers to address two of the country’s greatest goals: alleviate rural poverty and protect the environment. Similar projects have been started in other natural resource-rich countries such as Cambodia and Indonesia, and like China’s programs, have also been remarkably successful. The reasons are simple: rangers know the local territory inside out, and for the rangers, a stable government income is an attractive proposition.

Researchers have found similar results. According to a recent study of forest management in Southwest China, “Community forestry is one proven strategy where collective action by local people can overcome deforestation or degradation and achieve sustainable management, under specific conditions.”

Finding a New Path

In the 1990s, authorities shut down a number of logging mills involved in the destruction of the local environment. Officials then needed to find a new and more sustainable way to replace lost income while incentivizing locals to protect the environment. One of the most successful programs at the time was the Ecological Forest Ranger (EFR) initiative, which set up ranger programs like that in Cikatong across China.

The EFR program took on a second life in 2015 when President Xi Jinping announced plans to eradicate extreme poverty in China by 2020. Understanding the vital link between the environment and poverty alleviation, the government invested $3.1 billion into hiring nearly 1.1 million EFRs through the National Forestry and Grassland Administration. According to the State Council Information Office, more than 3 million people were lifted out of poverty by an increased family income through this program.

Standing on Their Own Feet

In Diqing Prefecture, nearly 17,000 residents were recruited as forest rangers between 2015 and 2019, including 88 in Cikatong village, earning a minimum of $1,200 a year. According to authorities, the salary, boosted by various subsidies and farming revenue, has helped poor households stand on their own feet.

They include rangers like Wang Yu, who joined forest patrols in the 1980s. He used to hunt out of necessity, but now he works to protect the forests, spending up to 10 days in the mountains monitoring conditions and local animals that can range from the goat-like Chinese serow to deer and wolves and bears. As a reminder never to hunt again he personally keeps antlers hanging on the walls of his home. Through the work of Diqing’s EFR, and a shift in community mindset, forest coverage grew from 65% in 2000 to 75% in 2011.

Planting New Seeds

EFRs are not the only villagers doing their part to reverse poverty in Diqing Prefecture. Officials have started working with locals to grow herbal plants for the lucrative Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) industry and new crops like cabbage, cilantro, and strawberries that can earn high prices in urban centers. With these valuable tools under their belt, villagers have more income opportunities while also learning sustainable farming practices.

In the future, the EFR project is also expected to evolve and grow. In 2020, all of China’s 832 impoverished counties were removed from the national poverty list. Far from being over, China is now tackling more complex issues such as relative poverty and helping rural regions like Yunnan Province work to reach national living standards. In the coming decades, rangers will remain important for community development as they face new challenges ahead in patrolling thousands of miles of mountains and forests.