“With the area’s high scientific and aesthetic value, the south China karsts are very likely to be approved at the World Heritage Committee Conference this June,” according to Erin Lynch, a speleologist and member of the Hongmeigui Cave Exploration Society.

“Maybe protection will become tougher after that. Like the national geoparks back in the United States, they should control the time and zones that are open to visitors.”

Challenges

With more than 92 percent of the total land covered by forests, the Maolan Karst Forest Nature Reserve in south Libo County, Guizhou Province is a treasure chest of animal and plant species. World-renowned geologist, Sweeting, from Oxford University, concluded his 1986 Guangxi-Guizhou tour by saying, “The majority of scientific problems for the development of world karst landforms could be solved through the study of this area.”

Conservation is no simple task in south China’s karst belt. Karst forest ecosystem, where plants grow out of rocks, can be extremely fragile, and once destroyed can leave only desert in their wake.

Prior to large-scale human activity most karst regions around the world were covered by thick forests. Today, as the human population has expanded, most are bare rock. Because of its remoteness the Maolan Karst Forest has retained much of its plant-life. The downside to this remoteness has been a lack of development and relative poverty for many local inhabitants.

Wu Guopan, a nine-year-old Shui minority boy from a small village called Laqiao, whose 20 households have been included in the nature reserve area, said: “Maybe I will leave, farming is so tedious and tiring.” The youngest son of the village head, Wu proudly showed off his bicycle, the only one among the village children.

Laqiao’s 2006 per-capita income averaged just 250 yuan - 500 yuan. According to Wei Luming, Director of the Administrative Bureau of Maolan Nature Reserve, Maolan is home to a population of 8,000, most of whom are ethnic minorities living in the mountains. The prohibition of burning, hunting and mass plant collection affected their income when the nature reserve was initially founded, he said.

To compensate for this the local administrative bureau has been helping them to introduce new farming methods and handicrafts. Native costumes, embroidery and silver ornaments are popular among visitors and also bring the villagers another income channel.

Engaging in tourism is one way that local people will be able to benefit from development of the nature reserve, and most villagers realize that protecting the environment will help to secure them benefits in the long term. However, they remain unclear about exactly how and how much they will benefit from the area gaining world heritage status.

Protection

In the “bundle” program, environmental protection has been equally stressed by local governments. In Maolan, you may find that forest patrols and volunteer village security patrols have been organized to combat hunting and other activity that damages the environment. Education about forest protection, as well as fire prevention laws, have also helped to protect the area.

And Shilin stone forest in Yunnan Province has even taken a step further. It is among the most developed geoparks in the country, and has a digital monitoring center that is used, via a network of cameras placed across the park, to protect against people damaging the environment, as well as to locate people who are lost. The center is controlled by Li Zhengping, head of the Shilin Tourism Administrative Bureau, whose innovative ideas and management experience have been of great value to the area.

With the approval of China’s State Council, and nomination by the World Conservation Union (ICUN), all three districts that are part of the national world heritage bid, are confident of success in New Zealand this June.

For China and the world, the south China karst region is an important scientific resource and an interesting tourist destination. For the local inhabitants it is much more than this-it is their home. Balancing the needs of science, local people and tourism is a difficult task for the local authorities in charge of the region, but far from impossible. In fact, if balanced correctly each could bring benefits to the others.