Figure 15 UW BE Lab with community liaison Yang Jie (far left) at
Jiuzhaigou National Park’s Laboratory for Ecology, Environment and Sustainability, in which UW is a partner.
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yak, goats and pigs. Even here, however, the impacts of development down in the city were being felt. According to villagers who spoke with the group, the government plans to dam the valley wetland to create a reservoir for water supply to the city below, which would put an end to their herding lifestyle.
The visit to Wenhai proved to be an important preparation for the BE Lab’s next tour stop, the Jiuzhaigou National Park and Scenic and Historic Interest Area in northern Sichuan (Figure 15).6 UNESCO’s World Heritage List includes Jiuzhaigou as a “natural heritage property,”7 and it is designated as a Biosphere Reserve under the UNESCO Man and Biosphere Programme. The network of valleys at Jiuzhaigou are most famous for natural scenery – spectacular karst landforms, waterfalls and pools with travertine deposits and suspended calcium bicarbonate – but they are also important for their biodiversity and home to several historic Tibetan villages that traditionally subsisted through a combination of herding, planting, hunting and gathering. Both conservation policy and the tourist economy have largely put an end to these activities. Although tourists do encounter Tibetan culture, and park authorities strive to use the site to enhance public environmental awareness, the growing popularity of Jiuzhaigou as a tourist destination is based primarily on its scenery.
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Study Tour in Sichuan and Yunan
