Livestock herds graze in the Pudacuo national park in Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture on September 16. (Xinhua photo)

Dujie Qilin, a 58-year-old Tibetan man, lives in the Pudacuo national forest park in northwest Yunnan’s Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. He lives on planting highland barley and feeding yaks, and now his house and life are natural part of the idyllic area.

"In the past, we lived on chopping logs and extensive grazing, and the annual income of my seven-member family was only 5,000 yuan. The poor lifestyle caused damage to local environment, with the number of wild animals decreasing. By the end of the 1990s, wild animals like barking deer and river deer were seriously endangered. 

Dujie Qilin cares for his horse on September 16.

A few years ago, eco-conservation policies were introduced to the national park, granting Dujie Qilin three positions: villager, ranger and member of the park.    "Since then, I have received an annual allowance of more than 50,000 yuan for ecological protection and tourism development,” said Dujie Qilin. “Without protecting the ecology properly, we had no money."

Up to now, around 17,000 villagers in Diqing have been hired as forest rangers. A special archive system was compiled exclusively for those living in extreme poverty.

At the Tacheng national park in Weixi County, Diqing Prefecture, 62-year-old forester Yu Xiaode carries 10 kilograms of pineapples to the golden monkeys as their “breakfast”. The Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys are under first-class protection in China.

A Yunnan snub-nosed monkey lives in the Tacheng national park on September 19.

"If we stick to log chopping, all trees will be cut down one day," said Yu Xiaode, who used to cut trees and hunt wild animals. For the recent 10 plus years, however, he has made friends with around 70 golden monkeys living in the national park. "As soon as the monkey heard me (voice or whistle), they would come out from the woods, crying."

Based on observation, Yu Xiaode and his work mates named the five monkey groups according to their different lifestyles. "The number of monkeys is growing year by year, which is a return for our devotion." He said.

Bill Bleisch, an American expert on natural resources management, said that when he first came to China more than 20 years ago, villagers near nature reserves lived on log chopping and animal hunting. But joint effort in eco-conservation has been made by local communities in China, and now villagers have bettered off.

"Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets, so we will stick to developing industries green and environmentally friendly," said Xu Pengsheng, executive deputy governor of Diqing Prefecture, explaining local policy for poverty alleviation.

Source: Xinhua; trans-editing by Wang Shixue