ABSTRACT
Lijiang City in Southwestern China was struck by a serious earthquake in 1996. Its reconstruction strategy involved tourism and in 1997 it gained UNESCO World Heritage Status (UNESCO, 1997). The rapid development of the tourism sector occurred at the expense of the Naxi and Yi – poor indigenous communities living along the Lashi Lake watershed. Water supply to Lijiang’s tourism development had been secured by limiting these communities’ access to the lake, land and forest. These restrictions triggered a vicious cycle of overfishing, de-forestation and landslides, causing further immiserisation. In 2000, the Green Watershed programme adopted the Participatory Small Watershed Management Programme (PWM) and collaborated with local government to break this vicious cycle. The PWM struggled to deal with stakeholder tensions involving government, communities and individuals pursuing ecological preservation and ecological justice. The PWM in China’s Lashi Lake Green Watershed received the UNDP’s 2015 Equator Prize in recognition of outstanding local achievement in promoting resilient, sustainable development for people, nature and resilient communities (UNESCO, 2015).
