case studies undp: kanghua community development center, china

7/27/2019 Case Studies UNDP: KANGHUA COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CENTER, China

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China

KANGHUA COMMUNITYDEVELOPMENT CENTRE

Empowered live

Resilient nation

Equator Initiative Case StudiesLocal sustainable development solutions for people, nature, and resilient communities


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UNDP EQUATOR INITIATIVE CASE STUDY SERIES

Local and indigenous communities across the world are advancing innovative sustainable development solutions that wo

or people and or nature. Few publications or case studies tell the ull story o how such initiatives evolve, the breadth

their impacts, or how they change over time. Fewer still have undertaken to tell these stories with community practition

themselves guiding the narrative.

To mark its 10-year anniversary, the Equator Initiative aims to ll this gap. The ollowing case study is one in a growing ser

that details the work o Equator Prize winners vetted and peer-reviewed best practices in community-based environmenconservation and sustainable livelihoods. These cases are intended to inspire the policy dialogue needed to take local succ

to scale, to improve the global knowledge base on local environment and development solutions, and to serve as models

replication. Case studies are best viewed and understood with reerence to The Power of Local Action: Lessons from 10 Years

the Equator Prize, a compendium o lessons learned and policy guidance that draws rom the case material.

Click on the map to visit the Equator Initiatives searchable case study database.

EditorsEditor-in-Chief: Joseph CorcoranManaging Editor: Oliver Hughes

Contributing Editors: Dearbhla Keegan, Matthew Konsa, Erin Lewis, Whitney Wilding

Contributing WritersEdayatu Abieodun Lamptey, Erin Atwell, Jonathan Clay, Joseph Corcoran, Sean Cox, Larissa Currado, David Godrey, Sarah Gordon,

Oliver Hughes, Wen-Juan Jiang, Sonal Kanabar, Dearbhla Keegan, Matthew Konsa, Rachael Lader, Erin Lewis, Jona Liebl, Mengning Ma

Mary McGraw, Brandon Payne, Juliana Quaresma, Peter Schecter, Martin Sommerschuh, Whitney Wilding

DesignSean Cox, Oliver Hughes, Dearbhla Keegan, Matthew Konsa, Amy Korngiebel, Kimberly Koserowski, Erin Lewis, John Mulqueen, Loren

de la Parra, Brandon Payne, Mariajos Satizbal G.

AcknowledgementsThe Equator Initiative acknowledges with gratitude Kanghua Community Development Centre, and in particular, the guidance a

inputs o Mr. Wu Jiawei. Photos courtesy o Kanghua Community Development Centre, Zhang Xuilei and Anthony B. Cunningham. M

courtesy o CIA World Factbook and Wikipedia.

Suggested CitationUnited Nations Development Programme. 2013. Kanghua Community Development Centre, China. Equator Initiative Case Study Ser

New York, NY.
http://www.equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/Power_of_Local_Action_Final_2013.pdfhttp://www.equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/Power_of_Local_Action_Final_2013.pdfhttp://www.equatorinitiative.org/index.php?option=com_winners&view=casestudysearch&Itemid=685http://www.equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/Power_of_Local_Action_Final_2013.pdfhttp://www.equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/Power_of_Local_Action_Final_2013.pdf


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PROJECT SUMMARY

Kanghua Community Development Centre (ormerlyKangmei Institute o Community Development andMarketing) assists villagers along the middle and upperreaches o the Yangtze River in establishing cooperativesand resource management plans that promote thesustainable harvesting o wild herbs and protect giantpanda habitats. Among other projects, the Centres work isaddressing the unsustainable extraction o medicinal plantsthat has threatened pandas and other wildlie by damagingtheir ragile habitats.

Through training, on-site guidance and the developmento standards or harvesting, Kanghua has successullypromoted a giant panda-riendly method or collectingmedicinal herbs, which has been adopted by over 20villages and has added value to medicinal plant productsbeing sold in national and international markets.

KEY FACTS

EQUATOR PRIZE WINNER: 2012

FOUNDED: 2005

LOCATION: Sichuan Province, south-western China

BENEFICIARIES: Rural communities throughout Sichuan

BIODIVERSITY: Giant Panda, sustainable plant collection

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Background and Context 4

Key Activities and Innovations 5

Biodiversity Impacts 8

Socioeconomic Impacts 8

Policy Impacts 9

Sustainability 10

Replication 10

Partners 11

KANGHUA COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENTCENTREChina


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Kanghua Community Development Centre was established in

005 in Sichuan Province, south-western China. Although based in

Chengdu (Sichuans capital city), Kanghua works primarily with the

egions rural communities. It specialises in designing and executing

ural community development projects, providing training related

o the conservation o nature, and assisting nature reserves and

ommunities in designing and carrying out ecotourism activities to

romote sustainable development.

Threats to water and forest resources

Chengdu is one o western Chinas most important economic,

ransportation and communication centres. It was designated by

Chinas state council as the countrys western centre or logistics,

ommerce, nance, science and technology. The city is an important

ub or manuacturing, while the surrounding plains provide the

egion with much o its agricultural production. Chengdu is situated

n the upper reaches o the Yangtze River basin. Rapid economic

evelopment o the surrounding rural region has threatened

he integrity o this major watershed. River unctions are being

egraded, pollution rom non-point sources is increasing, and

he low conservation awareness o local communities has had a

etrimental impact on water quality. Similarly, orests in the region

re under a great deal o pressure or their resources, including, most

otably, those within the Mamize Nature Reserve, a 38,800-hectare

rotected area that is home to a number o important bird species.

Protecting the giant panda and conserving medicinal plants

he Upper Yangtze region plays an important role in the conservation

one o the rarest and most endangered animals in the world.

Critically, it is home to 80 per cent o the planets remaining

opulation o giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca). Despite

isappearing habitat and declining populations, the giant panda is

onsidered a national treasure in China. The current wild population

umbers close to 1,500. To better protect this species, Chengdu has

stablished nature reserves in Dujiangyan City, Chongzhou City and

Dayi County. The largest o the reserves in the region, and the la

o its kind in the world, is the 200,000-hectare Sichuan Wolong G

Panda Nature Reserve, located only 130 km outside Chengdu.

The region is also home to more than 25 species o endang

medicinal plants. More than 45 traditional Chinese medicinal p

are still used extensively to treat illnesses. There is an active

thriving market or traditional medicinal plants at both local

national levels, but it has historically been subject to little tracea

and lax regulation. Consequently, it is let to community discre

to ensure that plants are harvested in a sustainable manner (o

leading to a tragedy o the commons outcome) and there

ew opportunities or harvesters to develop value-added msupply-chains.

Kanghua Community Development Centre

Kanghua Community Development Centre was created to add

a number o dierent issues, but has been particularly succe

at improving the sustainability and protability o medicinal p

collection while simultaneously protecting the habitat o

giant panda. The organization was originally known as Sich

Inormal Participatory Rural Assessment Network, an indicatio

its commitment to promoting bottom-up, community-based

development and conservation strategies. Kanghua is curr

involved in 52 dierent community development projects.scope o projects is impressive, covering village-level inrastruc

development; ecosystem conservation and restoration; ecotou

capacity building, training and peer-to-peer learning exchan

and supply-chain development. In most cases, Kanghua particip

in these projects as a partner rather than as the project initi

providing consultative services to local communities. Once invo

Kanghua takes responsibility or the design and implementa

phases o projects, in coordination with local stakeholders. S

o these projects have targeted communities o the Qiang et

people, who number around 200,000 and live mainly in n

western Sichuan province.

Background and Context


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Key Activities and Innovations

All o Kanghua Community Development Centres activities are

ocused on the twin objectives o conserving biodiversity and

cosystems while promoting sustainable livelihoods or rural

ommunities. While the organization provides unds and services

o communities, it is worth noting that it does not initiate all

projects; in many cases, Kanghua instead acts as a service provider

o communities and project unders, to help support grassroots

nitiatives through project development and implementation.

elow are our projects selected to demonstrate the range and scope

o activities undertaken by Kanghua Community Development

Centre, beginning with the project or which the organization was

warded the Equator Prize in 2012.

Giant Panda-Friendly medicinal plants

China is the worlds greatest consumer and trader o traditional

medicinal plant products. For a long time, however, the collection

o traditional medicinal plants in the wild went unregulated.

Harvesting happened in an uncoordinated ashion, with little

oversight and no enorced standards or social and environmental

ood practice. Markets or herbal medicinal products were also

nregulated, with dealers and consumers buying and trading with

ttle or no consideration or the sustainability o collection methods,

working conditions or source traceability. This disregard or

ustainability principles and lack o rules governing extraction led tohe degradation o many ecosystems and reduced the availability o

medicinal plant resources. As a result, many Chinese medicinal plant

pecies are threatened or endangered. Importantly, unsustainable

arvesting practices are also degrading the habitats o animal

pecies, including the critically endangered giant panda.

n 2008, in response to these threats, Kanghua Community

Development Centre participated in the Yangtze Upper Medium

River Traditional Medicinal Plant Biodiversity and Sustainable

Resources Project, supported by the Europe-China Biodiversity

Programme (ECBP), UNDP China and WWF. Following the re

o a baseline survey and needs assessment, Kanghua and part

selected a village in Pingwu County, Sichuan as their pilot

The pilot initiative was called the Daping Village Sustain

Management o Medicinal Plants Project, and developed a

protection model that successully combined the restoration

conservation o medicinal plant ecosystems, the protection o g

panda habitats, and the improvement o livelihoods or the

communities located in the ecological zones o the middle

upper reaches o the Yangtze River.

In the Daping Village pilot project, Kanghua helped local villa

to develop a sustainable collection agreement, which decommunity members rights and obligations with respect to

sustainable collection o wild medicinal herbs. The agreemen

pact, also outlines penalties or non-compliance with the meas

Community members, including the most impoverished househ

were ully involved in the development o the sustainability

ensuring that local support and engagement are high. The initi

also received the support o local government. As the Kang

initiative has expanded to additional villages, the village unit

remained the social unit around which new projects are plan

The views o each villager are sought when major issues arise

each project is headed by a local person who has been electe

the villagers.

Once implementation o the sustainability pact began, Kang

helped local villagers set up a Chinese medicinal herb associa

which was subsequently upgraded to a cooperative, legally ena

participating harvesters to operate commercially. One o the

benets o this legally incorporated status was collective barga

and negotiation powers. Traditionally, the collection and harve

o medicinal plants is carried out through townships, leadin

signicant variations in market prices and virtually no proce

set air standards. With the legal identity o a cooperative, medi

plant collectors were able to gain more certainty in terms o dem


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or their product and also the ability to get their products to market at

air price. Kanghua also provided members o the cooperative with

raining, study tours and hands-on demonstrations in sustainable

ollection practices and marketing. Importantly, the cooperative

was supported to secure organic certication or its herbal products

nd establish stable market links to increase harvesters resilience to

market shocks. The organization has beneted immensely rom the

upport o Kanghua, and has continued to recruit new members,

nd is gradually growing and expanding to scale.

The Daping model

ased on the overwhelming success o the pilot project in Daping,

Kanghua and its partners adapted the model or implementation

t other sites throughout Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gangsu provinces.

ince 2008, Kanghua has established a tried and tested three-phase

model: rst, under the guidance o an expert team, and with the

ull participation o local collectors, potentially popular species o

raditional Chinese medicinal plants are selected; next, working

with local collectors, producer associations are created to undertake

nowledge-sharing and set regulations on harvesting practices;

nd, lastly, supply-chain management is improved, enabling higher

roduct quality and better economies o scale.

he value o the Daping model lies in its wide applicability to many

are wild medicinal plants and its contribution to habitat protection.

he initiatives key aim is to use market orces to protect natural

cosystems. Currently, Kanghua is working with WWF to establish

nd promote the panda-riendly brand and certication standards

n the hope o producing more panda-riendly products. Kanghua

s also working with the Carreour Foundation to extend the Daping

model to other regions and to additional medicinal products.

Additional Kanghua initiatives

Yunqiao Water Source Wetland Reconstruction: Situated in Yunqiao

Village (Chengdu), close to the water intake o the Chengdu Sixth

Water Plant, the Yunqiao project area covers 3.73 hectares designated

s a drinking water source protection zone. The wetland is situated

t the intersection o the Baitiao River (one o the our mother rivers

Chengdu City) and Xuyan River (a tributary o the Zouma River).

Construction o the Chengdu Sixth Water Plant in the 1980s caused

signicant rise in groundwater levels, which gradually resulted in

he ormation o a natural mire wetland. Yunqiao Wetland maintains

he rich biodiversity typical o the region. Surveys conducted on the

wetland since June 2011 have identied over 118 wild plant species,

ncluding species belonging to the Machilus genus and Fagopyrumymosum, and 130 vertebrate species including seven mammal, 100

ird, ve amphibian, ten reptile and eight sh species.

In 2011, in collaboration with WWF and the local governm

Kanghua ormally began a process o implementing

coordinating recovery o the wetland. The project aims to pro

the wetland through building a drinking water saety bar

while also exploring new methods o water source protec

Additionally, Kanghua aims to enhance public awareness o the

o the Chengdu Plain wetlands in providing sae drinking wate

heighten public concern or water conservation, and to encou

the protection and sustainable use o water resources. Undeproject, Kanghua carries out activities in habitat managem

wetland monitoring and the protection o water resources.

Environmental Education on Wild Bird Habitats in the Yazi R

In 2011, Kanghua entered into a cooperative agreement with

Forestry and Landscape Administration Bureau o Guanghan

to conduct a series o public environmental education activitie

protect the Yazi River. The Yazi is known most amously or the

o thousands o migratory wild ducks that travel rom the nort

winter there each year. The rivers clear water, rocky beaches

expansive banks constitute the Yazi River Wetland, which is hom

abundant aquatic species and grassland resources and is one o

most important wintering grounds or water birds in the Chen

Plain. The Yazi River Wetland is one o the ew nature rese

in China to pass through a city, and this proximity has resulte

considerable damage to the wetland as local residents use i

shing, raising poultry, dredging and quarrying. The conseque

or wild birds include diminished habitat and interruptions to

normal reuge and oraging behaviours, constituting a serious th

to their survival.

Kanghuas involvement in the project began with an environme

impact assessment o how the activities o surrounding commun

were aecting the river. The objective was to identiy the ull ra

o man-made threats to the wetland ecosystem, and to mappotential win-win solutions. The result o this work was the

River Natural Conservation Manual, which lays out in some d

the key challenges conronting the ecosystem.

To address the problems identied in the manual, Kang

carried out a series o interventions in close cooperation with

local orestry bureau to enhance community awareness o

importance o environmental protection. Kanghua sought to m

beyond traditional outreach materials and employed a rang

innovative and interactive approaches to raising the prole o

the environment and the diversity o endemic bird species resi

in the Yazi. For example, Kanghua has completed two succe

rounds o bird observation training, which is oered to membethe public in collaboration with the Sichuan Aviation Institute.

the support o the Guanghan Forestry Bureau, bird observa

hides have been donated to local schools and classes o stud

supported to take eld trips to the wetland.

Post-Earthquake Rehabilitation o Napu Village and Wom

Empowerment: In 2008, Sichuan was hit by a strong earthq

and a number o atershocks, which devastated the regio

2009 and 2010, Kanghua worked in the two worst-hit Q

communities (Napu Village and Lili Villiage) to carry out post-dis

Policy making should be based on

the needs of communities

Mr. Wu Jiawei, Project Manager,



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econstruction. Activities included rebuilding o inrastructure

including roads and water supply) and diversiying the economic

opportunities available to the local population, with a particular

ocus on women. Ater surveying community members to identiy

priorities or reconstruction, Kanghua assisted in building 3,000

metres o water pipeline, connecting both people and livestock

with needed water resources. Additionally, 4,000 metres o irrigation

piping was laid or 77 households in Napu Village, to irrigate over 40

hectares o armland in arid valleys. As a result, crop yields increasedby 30 per cent. The Water Conservancy Bureau o Maoxian County is

now using the project as a model or several other villages.

n addition to inrastructural improvements, Kanghua set out to

mprove the economic situation o the Napu community. One

example was in the area o pepper cultivation. In Napu village,

pepper cultivation has traditionally been an important source o

ncome or community members. However, poor transportation has

nhibited local access to markets. To overcome this barrier, Kanghua

helped to establish the Maoxian Goukou Town Pepper Association

(now Maoxian June Red Pepper Cooperative), which has success

created a market supply chain between community growers

major retail outlets, including Carreour, China Oil and Foods

Corporation, and Red Flag Chain Stores. The association was ab

attain certication as an environmentally riendly organization.

In the preliminary stage o the project, Kanghua condu

participatory community surveys and evaluations in which villa

voted or and rank-ordered priority project activities. Based onresults o these surveys, Kanghua helped to drat a detailed

o action. In parallel, a series o community conerences were

These bottom-up meetings helped to establish the param

o community sel-management and to standardize opera

principles o transparency and participation. A signicant dimen

o Kanghuas work in Napu village has been in social and econ

empowerment, particularly or women. Kanghua has ocusse

boosting womens participation in community management, w

also improving market supply-chains or sectors where wo

work.

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8

Impacts

BIODIVERSITY IMPACTSHome to three nature reserves, Pingwu County in northern Sichuan

harbours a signicant portion o Chinas great panda population.

While Wanglang Reserve (long supported by WWF), Xiaohegou

Reserve, and Sier Reserve each protect small numbers o pandas,

he majority o the countys individuals are ound outside o these

enclaves. The county also borders several other key reserves and

ontains important migratory routes, making it a priority area or

panda conservation. Pandas and their habitats ace threats rom

griculture, mining, poaching, and hydropower development, as

well as the potential or illegal logging. The giant panda population

o Wanglang Reserve was estimated to be 196 in 1968, but had allen

o just 19 by 1985 (estimate taken rom Chinas Second National

Panda Survey) and was just 27 in 1998 ( Third National Panda Survey,

lthough some recent doubt has been cast on the accuracy o these

estimates.)

ince the 1990s, WWF has led eorts to better monitor panda

populations and work with local communities to conserve this

endangered species. Key challenges included the lack o local land

ownership, low levels o unding or state reserves, and increased

economic pressures rom a growing rural population seeking

new income sources ater the nationwide ban on logging in 1998.

Underpinning this was the lack o awareness on the part o rural

ommunities regarding sustainable management o their orestesources.

ince 2008, Kanghua has helped to tackle these root causes o habitat

oss by providing support services to Pingwus rural communities.

Using its unique comparative advantage its experience working

with rural communities, rom conducting participatory needs

ssessments to improving market supply chains Kanghua has

been able to change both the economic drivers o orest loss and

he social actors aecting this. Through its work in Daping and

ubsequent replication sites, Kanghua has successully promoted the

cultivation o giant panda-riendly medicinal plants. The apprhas had signicant biodiversity impacts, rst, by encouraging

sustainable harvesting o traditional medicinal plants som

which are threatened and others o which are endangered

second, by conserving the ragile ecosystems that are home to

giant pandas. Through training, on-site guidance and the distrib

o guidelines on sustainable wild plant collection, communities

been taught about sustainable collection methods or harve

medicinal plants, including the identication and demarcatio

areas where harvesting can be undertaken without damage to t

branches, vines or endemic populations o wild animals. Part o

sustainable harvesting practice includes the re-seeding o land

collection has taken place to ensure the resources that are colle

are replenished.

A series o sustainable harvesting guidelines has been establi

to govern resource extraction and, importantly, to restrict med

plant collection in areas surrounding the core giant panda prote

reserve. According to a recent Wanglang Nature Reserve Dete

Report, the number o people entering the protected area

reduced signicantly since the sustainable collection method

applied. A 2003/4 study used DNA-based mark-recapture to esti

the Wanglang panda population at 66 individuals, indicatin

improvement in ormal conservation eorts. Encouraging

harvesting o medicinal herbs in designated areas has also gr

reduced the degree o orest destruction.

Policy makers must link traditional

knowledge with the promotion of better

livelihoods.

Mr. Wu Jiawei, Project Manager,



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SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS

mproved incomes for harvesters

By promoting giant panda-riendly medicinal plant cultivation and

harvesting, Kanghua has not only helped to protect the environment

and a threatened population o wild pandas, but has also helped to

mprove the incomes o medicinal plant collectors, strengthened

heir collective bargaining power, improved inormation exchangebetween them, and created a lucrative and equitable market supply-

chain that connects local producers with new commercial outlets.

Many o the participating communities depend on the harvesting

and collection o medicinal plants as their primary source o income,

but have been limited by poor access to markets and are vulnerable

o price uctuations. Kanghua has provided these communities with

raining, an identity as a commercially viable cooperative, standards

or collection (and, in turn, organic certication), and a way to avoid

ocal discrepancies in prices oered or their products. By leading

he harvesters towards sustainable practices, and by carrying

out training activities in collection and marketing, Kanghua has

also improved their economic prospects and helped community

cooperatives in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gangsu to become important

actors in the marketing and sale o traditional medicinal plants.

Kanghua has also trained communities to meet higher international

tandards during ruit drying processes so that their products can

command higher prices.

As o September 2011, the Daping Village cooperative had sold six

ons o dried Kadsura herb to international and domestic markets.

The cooperative has also secured a ve-year memorandum o

cooperation with international buyers to supply ten tons o dried

Kadsura, ensuring a guaranteed source o income in the medium

erm. The stems o the plant, Caulis piperis kadsurae, are used to treat

heumatic conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, joint pain andmuscle spasms.

Because Kanghuas approach involves community members in all

aspects o project planning and implementation, there is a strong

ense o local ownership over the sustainable harvesting approaches

hat are introduced and, as a result, resource management pacts are

trictly complied with.

Womens involvement

Women account or about hal o the membership o the Daping

Village association and cooperative, while the vice-president o

he cooperative is a woman. The participation o women in themplementation and decision-making process has elevated the

tatus o local women in their community. Womens involvement in

he production o medicinal herbs is most oten in the harvesting

and collection stage. As the labour intensity o sustainable collection

methods is lower than that o traditional collection activities,

he burden on women has been reduced, while at the same time

allowing them to generate more income or their amilies.

POLICY IMPACTS

The success o Kanghuas Giant Panda-Friendly Sustainable ChHerbal Medicine Products Project has raised its prole and broug

to the attention o local, national and international policy make

September 2011, the project won a national award or outstan

contribution to its eld, which was jointly presented by

Department o Environmental Protection o the Peoples Rep

o China, the Department o Commerce o the Peoples Repub

China, UNDP China and the European Union delegation in Chin

As a result o the success o the project, the Sichuan Province Ch

Herbal Medicine Administration included rules governing

sustainable collection o medicine resources into its administr

regulations. Also inuenced by the Kanghua project, the provi

Forestry Department incorporated the sustainability o medicinal plant collection as an index in its routine biodive

monitoring procedures.

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Sustainability and Replication

SUSTAINABILITYKanghua Community Development Centre was originally called

ichuan Inormal Participatory Rural Assessment (PRA) Network

a reerence to the organizations dedication to promoting the

articipation o rural communities in initiatives and projects that

ect them. The value Kanghua places on participatory methods

nd community engagement is reected throughout its work and is

n important driver o the sustainability o the giant panda-riendly

medicinal plants initiative. There is a strong emphasis on community

wnership in all o Kanghuas projects, and as a result, a strong

evel o community engagement and commitment. The village unit

emains the structure around which new projects are planned as thenitiative expands. The views o each community member are sought

whenever major issues arise and all community members, including

he most impoverished and marginalized, are included at all stages

project planning and implementation. Each project is headed

y a local person who is elected by their village. This approach has

trengthened local ownership and communities understanding o

heir common interest in the projects success.

Another actor driving the sustainability o Kanghuas initiatives is its

mphasis on capacity building at the community level, and building

nancial sustainability. Kanghua trained harvesters in sustainable

ollection and cultivation methods, but also gave them the training

hey needed to run businesses and achieve higher prices or theirroducts. With this capacity building and support, villagers were

ble to establish successul cooperatives and associations that allow

hem to operate commercially. Under this model, the participating

illages are now in a position to continue to market their sustainably

arvested medicinal plant products, even in the absence o

ontinuing Kanghua support.

table market contacts have been established and long-term

artnerships developed with domestic and oreign enterprises

nd, through organic product certication, the price o the product

is much higher than those o other products o a similar na

ensuring the continued sustainable operation o collection

the sustainability o villagers income. The initiative is success

leveraging the power o market orces to protect the na

ecosystems that support giant pandas and other wildlie

biodiversity.

REPLICATION

Kanghuas giant panda-riendly medicinal products project

case study in the replication and scaling-up potential o r

community-based development interventions. Since its pilotin

Daping village in Pingwu County, the cooperative establishedKanghuas support has continued to grow and recruit new mem

and is gradually expanding in scale. The sustainable colle

method has also expanded rom this initial site to more tha

villages throughout Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gangsu provinces a

benetting more than 500 harvesters in total.

Central to its transerability has been the development o

Daping model, which can be adapted to suit a range o die

regions and environments. The value o this simple model is


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1111

asis in assessments o locally available medicinal plant species with

igh commercial potential. This is important in China where there

re many areas rich in biodiversity that have aced or are acing the

hreats o resource depletion and environmental degradation by

he indiscriminate collection o wild medicinal plants. A medicinal

lant harvesters cooperative in Gansuwen County was deeply

nuenced by the Daping model, or instance, and has now agreed

o participate in sustainable collection.

he giant panda-riendly angle taken by Kanghua in promoting

ustainable harvesting o medicinal plants rom the wild also makes

he initiative attractive to businesses and consumers who easily

dentiy the iconic and treasured panda species and understand the

alue in its conservation. This has helped participating harvesters

o expand the markets or their sustainable products. Kanghua

currently working with WWF and the Carreour Foundation to

xtend the Daping model to other regions and medicinal products.

PARTNERS

n all o its projects, Kanghua Community Development Centre

works with a number o partner organisations, including Chinese

overnment agencies, domestic and international NGOs and

multilateral organizations. Partners to date have included both

he Forestry and Landscape Administration and the Environmental

rotection Administration o Sichuan Province. NGO partners

ave included the Ford Foundation, WWF, Chengdu Urban Rivers

ssociation (CURA), Hong Kong Bird Watching Society, and Ocean

ark Hong Kong. Kanghua has also partnered with the United

ations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO).

or the giant panda-riendly Chinese herbal medicine products

roject, Kanghua received support rom the ollowing partners:

hengdu University o Chinese Medicine: Provided proessional

upport to the project and together with other project-related

gencies developed a university textbook on Medicinal plant

esource conservation and sustainability. This was the countrys rst

extbook on sustainable wild medicinal plant usage, and will be used

o increase awareness o conservation and sustainable medicinal

lant collection in Chinese traditional medicine practitioners.

WWF: Managed the Daping village project on matters related to

nvironmental protection during its implementation process and

romoted the Daping model in other regions and elds.

he Forestry Department o Sichuan Province: Incorporated thewild medicinal plant collection condition as an index in its routine

iodiversity monitoring procedures.

he Traditional Chinese Medicine Ofce o Sichuan Province:

ncluded the conservation and sustainable use o Chinese herbal

medicine into its Regulations on Traditional Chinese Medicine o

ichuan Province.

arreour Foundation: Is working with Kanghua to extend the Daping

illage model to other villages, regions and medicinal products.


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o recognize and advance local sustainable development solutions or people, nature and resilient communities.

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FURTHER REFERENCE

Kanghua Community Development Centre Equator Initiative prole page at:http://www.equatorinitiative.org/index.php?option=c

winners&view=winner_detail&id=93&Itemid=683

Click the thumbnails below to read more case studies like this:
http://www.equatorinitiative.org/index.php?option=com_winners&view=winner_detail&id=93&Itemid=683http://www.equatorinitiative.org/index.php?option=com_winners&view=winner_detail&id=93&Itemid=683http://www.equatorinitiative.org/index.php?option=com_winners&view=winner_detail&id=93&Itemid=683http://www.equatorinitiative.org/index.php?option=com_winners&view=winner_detail&id=93&Itemid=683http://www.equatorinitiative.org/index.php?option=com_winners&view=winner_detail&id=93&Itemid=683http://www.equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/com_winners/casestudy/case_1348162360.pdfhttp://www.equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/winners/103/casestudy/case_1370356422.pdfhttp://www.equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/com_winners/casestudy/case_1348163412.pdf

case studies undp: kanghua community development center, china

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