The Administration gave priority to the expenses on the conservation of and research on the Golden Snub-nosed Monkey, send its technical staff to attend academic conferences and training courses, held the first National Forum on Conservation and Research of the Golden Snub-nosed Monkey, hosted academic conferences and workshops including the annual meeting of primate experts, and reinforced the communication with the provincial Department of Science and Technology, the provincial Department of Forestry and the State Ministry of Science and Technology, etc. to get more financial and technical support. Since 2007, a series of research platforms have been established, such as the Golden Snub-nosed Monkey Conservation & Research Center of Hubei Province, Shennongjia Golden Snub-nosed Monkey Field Research Base of the State Administration of Forestry, Hubei Provincial Key Lab for Conservation Biology of Golden Snub-nosed Monkey.

Attracted by the research platforms and the promotion by the media, many researchers have swarmed into Shennongjia looking for cooperation in research. The composition and the academic level of the research team as well as its research methods and technology have been significantly improved.

Before 2005, the nature reserve was only capable of preliminary research in cooperation with a few institutions and universities. The Golden Snub-nosed Monkey is a species endemic to China favored by researchers, and because it is rare, elegant and beautiful, it is very attractive to the public and the media. Good conservation and research of the species would definitely result in a chain reaction and a virtuous circle of conservation and science research. Based on the experience learned from other protected areas, the Director General decided to establish a special team to track and observe the species around the clock to get first-hand data for further research.

In 2005, the new team started on the long and difficult “monkey-tracking” road with heavy equipment and supplies. With over 400 days of effort, the team successfully reduced a group of monkeys’ natural vigilance against human: they were no longer afraid of the human followers and started to accept the food offered to them in the food-scarce winter. The harmony between human and the monkeys started to grow. Now, this group of monkeys has been indifferent to the activities of the research staff. Abundant data acquired has help researchers learn about the species. This method is called habituation-based research.

(1) Establishing ecological corridor to strengthen important habitats connectivity

The construction of ecological corridors strengthen the connectivity between different patches in the Park, and promote the diffusion of animals and gene exchange.

(2) Expanding effective habitat area by ecological restoration

The preparation of The Special Plan for Ecological Restoration has realized comprehensive evaluation of the vegetation status and identified the main areas that need ecological restoration in the Park.

(3) Reintroducing large carnivores for a complete food chain

In the future, reintroduction of large predators to reconstruct the integrity of the food chain will improve the ecosystem stability in the Park due to the increase or surplus of herbivores.

(4) Establishing compensation methods to promote ecological migration

The compensation policy for ecological migration actively encourages the residents living in scattered villages to move to towns or counties nearby and effectively enhances the effect of ecological protection.

(5) Conservation and community development coordination

The public participation mechanism has mobilized the enthusiasm of residents in the Park, and through information sharing, employment, etc, local residents' sense of belonging and honor has been cultivated.

(1) Integrated Space-Air-Ground biodiversity monitoring system

Space: used satellite remote sensing image to carry out multi-temporal image remote sensing monitoring in the Park, cross-provincial cooperation area and franchise area, and used ground and near-surface remote sensing data to interpret satellite remote sensing image.

Air: used aerial photography with Lidar, CCD high-resolution camera, and hyperspectral image to obtain the near ground remote sensing image of the whole Park.

Ground: established nearly 800 forest plots and set up 507 infrared cameras to carry out grid-level monitoring, covering the whole Park.

 (2) Establishment of National Park Research Institute

To promote the construction in a scientific way, the Park will set up a National Park Research Institute, which will provide support for the scientific, accurate and intelligent construction and management of biodiversity protection in the Park.

(3) Building "Smart National Park"

By utilizing advanced technologies such as remote sensing, big data cloud computing and artificial intelligence, a big data cloud service platform for the Park has been formed. By combining mobile phone terminals with Internet technology, a comprehensive management and service platform for smart national park has been built.

(1) Exploring the innovation system of easement reform and the diversified land management and utilization modes

According to the actual situation of different ownership of collective land, the Park studied and formulated different management methods of forest land, farmland, homestead, and water area in the Park and explored the land use modes of diversified land management in different functional areas.

(2) Realizing ecosystem integrity protection through cooperative protection

The criterion for regional cooperation protection is to protect the authenticity, representativeness, and integrity of the ecosystem and takes into account the area suitability and management feasibility.

(3) Optimizing functional zone division and implementing differentiated management

The current functional zone division is reasonable in the Park. On this basis, it can be further optimized and improved. For example, improvement of the proportion of core reserves and implementation of differentiated management.

(4) Formulating Regulations of Qianjiangyuan National Park

To regulate all activities and to protect the authenticity and integrity of the natural ecosystem, Regulations of Qianjiangyuan National Park has been preliminarily formulated according to China’s relevant laws and the Park’s actual situation.

Federating partners is essential to achieving good environmental management. To achieve this, it is necessary to :

- identify all conflicts of use

- involve users in the partners: scientists, local communities, protected area managers, fishing federations, etc.

Once a business model is available, it is time to develop a project and find a financier.

Step 1. Design a project to pursue the business idea. It should include a clear structure and sound contractual frameworks (e.g. actors involved in implementing the project and their roles; financial flows; decision-making processes; and legal entities relevant for the project).

Step 2. Identify potential financiers, which may be environmental trust funds or impact investments. A trust fund is a vehicle for collecting, investing, allocating and managing assets, filled through donations, public funds or others (e.g. taxes). Impact investments are those made with the intention to generate positive, measurable social and environmental impact alongside a financial return. They are usually made by development finance institutions, private foundations, pension funds, individual investors and others.

Step 3. Develop a marketing strategy for the project.

Step 4. Develop a project business plan (PBP). A PBP is a written description of the future of a project (usually 3-5 years).  It describes the resources and capacities that exist now and those that will have been secured in the future. A PBP gives an investor confidence that the project team knows where they are going and how they will get there.

Addressing the financial gap requires securing investments from public and private sources.

Sept 1. Come up with a revenue generating idea, which can involve sale of a tangible product (e.g. coffee); a deal involving an intangible product (e.g. sale of carbon credits); or provision of a service (e.g. accommodation facilities).  In all cases, opportunities can exist within the boundaries of the protected area or in the surrounding area. 

Step 2. Elaborate the idea into a business model by identifying assets in the protected area that can be used to provide revenue for conservation, e.g. exceptional beauty, biodiversity, offsetting potential, etc.

Step 3. Conduct a feasibility study to prioritize ideas and determine whether to develop a project or not. A feasibility study explores multiple aspects of a business idea to determine if it is practical, viable and suitable for a specific context.

Step 4. Make the business case for the prioritized idea(s). A business case is intended to provide justification for pursuing a given business model.  Ultimately, the business case will be used to inform investors and convince them to invest in a given proposal. It is also useful to inform partners and other actors and stakeholders involved in the development of a conservation finance project.

A protected area (PA) financial strategy should aim to covering all costs of the implementation of the PA management plan in order to achieve the conservation objectives.

Step 1. Know the starting conditions in the PA, e.g. conservation objectives, financial gaps and business opportunities. This information can be found in the PA Management Plan and its financial plan.

PA management plans describe activities, needs and goals protected and conserved area managers are working to achieve. Financial plans provide an overview of a site’s current financial state projections of future income, long term financial goals and needs and steps to achieve the conservation objectives established in the PA management plan.

Step 2. Determine financial gaps. Identify the financial requirements for implementing the management plan or a strategic component, e.g. fire management (how much does fire management costs? Including personnel, equipment, infrastructure and supplies). Consider basic or optimum scenarios to achieve conservations goals. Map all available resources from public and private funding and, finally, calculate the gap by determining the difference between available and necessary resources for each scenario.

GIZ conducted a cost-benefit analysis to assess the value of protecting remaining windbreaks, the benefits of straw as a fertiliser and the economic impact of a ban on burning crop residue. The survey data showed that a ban of crop residue burning would help to protect existing windbreaks. The shredding of straw during harvesting and the subsequent integration of straw into the soil builds up organic soil material and helps to store moisture in the soil.  Enhancing the soil carbon content will increase the fertility of soil. Soil carbon content is an important indicator for monitoring land degradation neutrality (LDN).

Unclear ownership and institutional responsibility are the main obstacles to building sustainability in windbreaks. At the political level, a working group under the National Forest Programme chose restoration of windbreaks as a key topic. With the support of GIZ, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture developed a policy for rehabilitation and protection of windbreaks. Buildings on this, a new law on windbreaks was initiated to clarify the situation by defining clear responsibilities for windbreak maintenance and management. As of today, the law is in the preparatory stage in the Agrarian Committee of the Georgian Parliament.