The Qinling Mountains, about 45 kilometers (km) southwest of Xi’an, the capital city of Shaanxi province in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), are a global biodiversity hotspot, supporting many endangered, rare, and/or endemic plant and animal species. As well as very high levels of endemism, the mountains contain a vertical spectrum of vegetation types in which 70% of all vegetation types in the PRC are found. More than 90% of the range lies within Shaanxi, where it forms a north–south divide and is a major climatic influence on the northern PRC and the water resources of the Yellow and Yangtze rivers. It is also one of the country’s most critical ecological function zones.
In addition to its geographic and ecological significance, the mountain range at project appraisal was home to about 15.7 million people, more than 60% of whom subsisted on agriculture. Extensive poverty, heavy reliance on agriculture, and competing land uses, particularly in the hilly areas, have caused significant environmental, land, and biodiversity degradation. The high level of land-use pressure in the project area and nature reserves has created an urgent need to conserve the precious ecosystem while pursuing better livelihoods for the local people.
Against this backdrop, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved an $80 million loan for the Shaanxi Qinling Biodiversity Conservation and Demonstration Project in October 2009. It also approved a $4.27 million grant from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) it administers to support the project. At appraisal, the project’s envisaged impact was sustainable biodiversity conservation in order to protect globally significant species and sustain economic growth. Its expected outcome was improved and integrated biodiversity management that provides sustainable livelihoods for the population in the project area. It was to deliver numerous outputs through three components (i) participatory biodiversity management in the mountainous area, (ii) enhancement of biodiversity conservation in the plains area, and (iii) improved project management.
At completion, the project largely achieved its output targets, resulting in the successful attainment of its outcome and impact targets. Activities under component 1 significantly improved biodiversity conservation in the mountainous area through forest restoration and conservation and species management. They also contributed directly to improved livelihoods of local communities by supporting the community and village infrastructure necessary for home-based ecotourism business. Forest lands covered far exceeded targets: 200% of the targeted 2,000 hectares (ha) for habitat restoration on state forest land and 120% of the target 4,000 ha for conservation forestry and agriculture on collective forest land.
Activities under component 2 established the Qinling National Botanical Garden (QNBG) and rehabilitated the Shaanxi Animal Rescue Center (SARC) according to international standards and good practices. Besides their conservation functions, the QNBG and SARC provide state-of-the-art ecotourism products and services, the revenues from which are reinvested in conservation in the broader mountainous area and local communities. However, as of completion, the project has yet to achieve its revenue targets from QNBG and SARC operations.
Activities under output 3 added significant value to the project outcome and long-term impact. The ecological baseline monitoring and species management plans that were developed provide the fundamental basis for biodiversity conservation in the project area. The participatory education programs and courses are proving very useful for raising public awareness of biodiversity conservation, particularly among young people. Government adoption of the project recommendation to establish a national park system in the Qinling Mountains for integrated ecosystem management is expected to enhance the project outcome considerably in the long term.
Meanwhile, project interventions to mainstream the management of four globally endangered animal species in government conservation programs have already yielded significant results – the number of giant pandas increased by 27%, golden monkeys by 71%, golden takin by 150%, and crested ibis by 52%, during 2010–2019. So have project activities to develop sustainable livelihoods – more than 1,500 jobs have been created; a vibrant ecotourism is in place, supported by small home-based businesses; about 1.1 million ecotourists visited the project area in 2019.
Acting through the Shaanxi Development and Reform Commission, the Shaanxi provincial government was the executing agency. The QNBG and SARC were the project implementing agencies
