Biodiversity is a concept drawn from natural science while the study of ethnic minority cultures belongs to the social sciences. At first sight there is little relationship between the two. But in fact there is a strong, practical relationship between biodiversity and the culture of ethnic minorities. And this especially holds true in China.

To understand this we need to examine the current state of biodiversity in China. The environment ministry recently published a strategy document describing China's biodiversity in glowing terms such as "abundant", "number one of the world" and so on. But while China has substantial biodiversity resources and many unique species, to use the term "abundant" is inappropriate.

Biodiversity in China has three main characteristics: The first is regional imbalance. In a list of world biodiversity hotspots compiled by Conservation International, only one area of China is mentioned; the mountains of the southwest.

This region, occupying just 10 percent of China's land area, is home to 50 percent of the country's bird and mammal species, and more than 30 percent of its plant species. It is no exaggeration to say that China's ecological future will be determined by how conservation is managed in its mountainous southwest.

The second feature of China's biodiversity is its vulnerability. It is precisely the biodiversity hotspots that face the most serious threats to their ecosystems. One problem is that the southwest is prone to natural disasters. In recent years, Yunnan Province, Sichuan Province and the Tibet Autonomous Region have all experienced major disasters that have taken a toll on local biodiversity

The third, and most crucial, feature of China's biodiversity is its close relationship with the rich culture of local ethnic minorities. The mountain peoples who inhabit China's biodiversity hotspots have, in the course of earning a livelihood over countless generations, accumulated a vast store of plant and animal lore that directly links their cultures with the surrounding ecosystems.

And it is the close ties between traditional ethnic cultures and biodiversity that we need to focus on. Most Chinese people have a limited understanding of the traditional cultures of ethnic minorities. If they think of them at all, they do so in terms of dancing and singing. But ethnic minorities have vast cultural resources that are bound up with their relationship to the natural world. Ethnic peoples' cultural links with the natural environment have conserved biodiversity. Many minorities hold shamanist and animist beliefs. The Tibetan, Dai, Miao and Buyi peoples worship holy mountains, forests and dragon peaks, and their beliefs have played a key role in conserving the natural environment of these sacred places. Ethnic minorities have come together to enact customary laws to protect the environment. One example was the 1951 agreement among several groups to outlaw logging on Dayao Mountain in Guangxi. The agreement, which has been strictly enforced, has played a major role in protecting the local flora, fauna, ecosystem and landscape.

The traditional farming practices of minority nationalities have also conserved biodiversity. For example, the Jinuo people traditionally practiced slash and burn agriculture, dividing the land into 13 parts to ensure that each area of rain forest they cultivated would have at least 13 years to recover. In this way there was no loss of biodiversity. In fact such practices tend to marginally increase the number of species in the local ecology. The Dai people used to plant fast-growing Kassod trees (cassia siamea) near their villages to use for firewood, preserving the trees of the surrounding forest.

Biodiversity research and conservation in China should be people-oriented and must not overlook the positive role played by ethnic minority culture. People-oriented conservation should be adopted at all levels of government, and in academic research, and should actively involve China's minority nationalities who have already done so much for conservation and biodiversity.

The author is from College of Life Sciences and Environmental Sciences, Nationalities University of China.