ne of the most biodiverse countries in the world, China is home to traditional knowledge on biospecies resource conservation and utilization, fostered by generations of ethnic groups, which is valuable both economically and ecologically. In an interview with China News Service, Yin Lun, a researcher with the Kunming-based Center for Southwest Ecological Civilization Research under the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, revealed how old wisdom could help bolster a modern drive for biodiversity conservation.
CNS: What can traditional knowledge teach us about biodiversity conservation?
Yin Lun: According to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD, a treaty of the United Nations Environment Program which went into force on December 29, 1993), traditional knowledge is defined as “knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities embodying traditional lifestyles relevant for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity.” It can be passed down through generations in written form or expressed through songs, legends, proverbs, beliefs, customary laws and indigenous languages.
In 2014, China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment released technical standards of traditional knowledge on biodiversity. There are five categories: agricultural breeding genetic resources, traditional medicine, sustainable utilization of biological resources, traditional culture of biodiversity and geographical indication products (specific to the area).
In Deqin County, Yunnan Province, for example, Tibetan people developed a traditional belief system centered on the sacred mountain of Kawagebo, the highest peak of Yunnan (6,740 meters). This belief system encompasses more than 300 sacred mountains in the vicinity. The villagers believe that everything there, including plants and animals, belongs to the mountains and thus is inviolable, and that hunting or logging will anger the mountains, which would incur punishments like downpours and mudslides. Based on this belief, traditional customary laws prohibit logging, poaching medicinal herbs and polluting springs, rivers and lakes on the sacred mountain, which have effectively protected ecosystems and biodiversity resources, thus creating a de facto nature reserve.
We can also look at an example of traditional knowledge on breeding selection and utilization of agricultural genetic resources. The Jino people, who live in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan, grow 96 upland rice varieties with a rotational farming approach to maximize output. Their experiences and knowledge, accumulated across a long period of time, helped protect and boost the diversity of local upland rice varieties, further fostering the region’s wider crop genetic diversity.
Therefore, it’s fair to say that traditional knowledge possessed by China’s ethnic groups has effectively protected local biogenetic diversity, making these regions “gene banks” for preservation and utilization of biogenetic resources.
CNS: What role does traditional knowledge play in protecting biodiversity in China and worldwide?
YL: The role of traditional knowledge in natural conservation was recognized by the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15, October 2021, Kunming, Yunnan Province). The Kunming Declaration states that parties are committed to “recognizing the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities and ensuring their full and effective participation.”
Living in complex and diverse natural environments and ecosystems, including forests, deserts, plateaus, ice sheets, drylands and seashores, China’s ethnic groups over generations have accumulated and developed traditional knowledge on ecosystems and biodiversity, which is continuing to develop and innovate with ecological, social and cultural changes.
As for the role of traditional knowledge in biodiversity conservation, if we consider customary ecological law, it is a type of traditional knowledge. It not only includes traditional beliefs and codes of conduct that directly protect plants and animals, but also traditional knowledge and technical practices for classification, storage, effective utilization and integrated management of ecosystems and biodiversity, as well as those that could share their benefits and promote development.
Therefore, traditional ecological customary law is not just a single guideline for ecosystems and biodiversity conservation. It is a more comprehensive governance system. For example, at Jiabi Village at the Lancang (Mekong) River Grand Canyon in Yunnan, there is a longstanding traditional organization called the Sisterhood, which sets seasonal logging bans and organizes afforestation efforts to restore tree diversity, which maintains the stability of the entire forest ecosystem.
In a nutshell, China’s ethnic groups have their own traditional knowledge for maintaining ecological balance and protecting the natural environment, with ecological customary laws on biogenetic diversity developed over a long period. This has promoted biodiversity conservation and played a key role in biospecies resource conservation.
CNS: How can China’s ethnic groups’ traditional knowledge further contribute to global biodiversity protection?
YL: Target 13 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework adopted in December 2022 aims to “ensure the fair and equitable sharing of benefits that arise from the utilization of genetic resources and from digital sequence information on genetic resources, as well as traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources.” In this context, we should think about how to include traditional customary rules in the national law and international protocols, so traditional knowledge and customary rules can become a main part of global biodiversity protection.
China issued its national biodiversity conservation strategy and action plan in 2010, calling for efforts to protect and inherit traditional knowledge. In September 2018, Yunnan Province promulgated China’s first local biodiversity conservation regulation. Yet it only features some general principles on traditional knowledge, while it lacks enforceable detailed rules and measures.
Countries like India, Brazil, South Africa and Malaysia have laws and systems on biospecies resources and related traditional knowledge, gradually recognizing and accepting the ecological customary laws and systems of traditional societies such as aborigines, hereditary peoples, indigenous peoples and local communities, with efforts to integrate them into the modern environmental legal system.
In this context, it is necessary for China to further explore special paths and ed systems for access to and benefit-sharing from the conservation of biodiversity genetic resources and related traditional knowledge under the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.
For example, in Yunnan where biodiversity resources and traditional ecological culture are rich, a traditional knowledge-based local mechanism could be developed for biodiversity governance, which could also be further incorporated into and compliment provincial biodiversity conservation regulations.
When traditional knowledge is integrated into the national legal framework, access to and benefit sharing of genetic resources will be based on law, which will fundamentally prevent the loss of biospecies resources.