Protecting Wetlands 2

In last October, the Siberian Crane Wetlands Project (SCWP) funded a pilot scheme for Mr. Hou and several other farmers to store smashed corn straw for fermentation. SCWP subsidized them 15 yuan per cubic meter of such feedstuff. Milk cows like to eat this feedstuff with its sour taste, and it increases their milk output greatly. This year, Mr. Hou earns more than 5,000 yuan from each of his cows, 5 times the amount he earned by cutting reeds in the past.

In the past, if the nature reserve set up fences around prohibited grazing areas, local villagers would dismantle them quickly. The two sides used to be in conflict. Now that the nature reserve has begun to help local villagers look for alternative livelihoods; their relationship isn’t confrontational any more. Local villagers also begin to understand the importance of environmental protection. Local farmers begin to improve their livestock structures. The nature reserve provides a 2,000 yuan subsidy to every farmer who improves his livestock and arranges for him to participate in animal husbandry trainings.

This village is located at the buffer zone of Kerqin National Nature Reserve. It looks very desolate. The nature reserve administration signed an agreement with local villagers to protect the natural resources there. SCWP provides a 1,000 yuan loan for every farmer to help them buy seeds and fertilizers or improve their livestock. Qi Jinbao, a local farmer, plans to use this loan to buy diesel to extract groundwater.

Every farmer who wants to get a small loan needs a guarantor. Qi Jinbao’s guarantor is Wang Fusheng, whose ranch is located on the edge of the core area of the nature reserve. The nature reserve hires Mr. Wang as a ranger and trains him to be a bird observer and a hydrological monitor. He goes to fixed places to measure groundwater levels once per day and observes Bustards and Demoiselle cranes in the wetland 3 times a day.