Efforts of Indigenous Knowledge in Forest and Wildlife Conservation: A Case Study on Bulang People in Mangba Village in Yunnan Province, China

• Published in: Forests 2020-11, Vol.11 (11), p.1178
• Main Authors: Su, Kaiwen, Ren, Jie, Qin, Yueting, Hou, Yilei, Wen, Yali
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: conservation; ethnic groups; forest; indigenous knowledge; nature worship; wildlife
• ISSN: 1999-4907; 1999-4907
• DOI: 10.3390/f11111178

In rural areas, indigenous knowledge plays an important role in the protection of forests and wildlife, but the rapid developments occurring in the society and economy impose several challenges to the continued role of indigenous knowledge. This study records how a Bulang village in the Yunnan Province of China uses indigenous knowledge to protect forests and wildlife and analyzes the underlying reasons. In this study, we found that even without specific punishment measures, local people effectively controlled the use of natural resources through moral constraints, public-opinion constraints, and worship rituals. Furthermore, they formed a forest- and wildlife-protection system with banyan trees and the Derbyan Parakeet at the core. This protection system is based on primitive nature worship and indigenous knowledge passed down orally from generation to generation. Such knowledge inheritance reflects the relationship between local people and nature. However, the lack of scientific guidance regarding ecological protection may lead to the destruction of the ecosystem. One such instance is illustrated using birdwatching tourism, for which the Bulang people are attracting birds by artificial feeding. This practice, while prescribed by indigenous knowledge, deviates from scientific knowledge on ecological protection. Therefore, we propose that there should be an intermeshing of indigenous and scientific knowledge to ensure the inheritance of and innovation in the former and effective biodiversity protection.