Diverse botanical communities in Yunnan and the Yangtze River shelter forest system

The diverse vegetation in China's Yunnan Province provides habitat for many rare and endemic wildlife species. The excessive exploitation of natural resources due to rapid population growth bas damaged much of its primary forest cover during the last fifty years. This paper documents notable vegetation changes observed during a ten-day journey from Kunming to Zhongdian in the summer of 2001. The paper first examines the diversity of the botanical communities of Yunnan and the vertical zonation of vegetation. It then discusses the soil erosion problems caused by forest destruction. Finally, the paper concludes by reviewing the development of the Yangtze River Shelter Forest System, which aims to increase the forest area by 20 million ba in 40 years in order to restore the degraded ecology of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. Geography