Abstract:

Yunnan is a mountainous province in Southwest China bordering with Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam. Yunnan is distinguished globally for its bio-cultural diversity. Although it covers only 4% of land areas of China, it harbors about 50% of plant, birds and mammal species. It is home to 25 of 55 minority ethnic groups in China. However, Yunnan’s economy lags far behind many other provinces in China. Loss of biodiversity is often a major causality following the conventional interventions, such as extension of monoculture plantations to boost economic development. This case study uses tea cultivation as an example to deal with the challenge of how to integrate biodiversity conservation with the expanding plantation economy.