Sustainability Assessment Yunnan

Development of Sustainability Assessment in Rural Multiple Use Forest in the Upper Mekong Watershed, Northwest Yunnan, China

Funded by: The Special Research Fund (BOF) of Ghent University: Doctoral Grants for Candidates from Developing Countries

Research associate: Peng Shengjing

Promoter: Robert De Wulf

Duration: 01/2008- 12/2011

Project objectives

The general objective of this research is to explore a new paradigm of SFM for resource-dependent local communities, resulting in an adapted methodology useful for ongoing oak forest conservation work with several NGOs, rural communities and local government. The specific objectives of the research are:

1. To quantitatively assess current sustainability constraints of the oak forest under traditional forest management around selected Tibetan communities, NW Yunnan;
2. To analyse the relationship between the oak forest characteristics (species, structure, regeneration) and forest products harvest and management by the Tibetan communities;
3. To assess oak forest change over time around selected sites in function of past multiple use and socio-economic factors;
4. To develop a predictive model for SFM, integrating ecological, economic and social attributes;
5. To use the validated predictive model to design management scenarios allowing to define an adapted set of criteria and indicators for SFM.