International Online News: On December 4th, Tencent Public Welfare held a public welfare live broadcast event in Baima Snow Mountain Nature Reserve, Yunnan Province. Yu Jianhua, a patrolman, shared his story of monkey protection from hunter to patrolman at the event site. Yu Jianhua, 68, feeds food in the mountains every day. His task is to protect the Yunnan golden monkey. Yu Jianhua, called Uncle Yu by the locals, was originally a hunter with a good marksmanship.
Yu Jianhua, patrolman of Yunnan Baima Snow Mountain Nature Reserve.
Laoyushu’s village Xiangguqing is a Lisu village in Weixi Lisu Autonomous County, Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province. In the past, villagers had a hard life. Cutting down trees to sell wood and hunting were the main sources of income for many people. In addition to hunting, human activities such as deforestation, grazing and mining have become important factors threatening the survival of Yunnan golden monkey.
In 1997, Baima Snow Mountain Nature Reserve recruited rangers to watch the mountains and protect monkeys. Yu Jianhua took the initiative to apply and worked for 23 years. In these 23 years, Lao Yu has changed from a hunter who made wild animals tremble to an "umbrella" for Yunnan golden monkeys.
To protect Yunnan golden monkey, it is very weak to rely on the strength of one person or a group of people. Only by mobilizing the strength of the whole society can we get twice the result with half the effort. Xiao Jin, a retired scholar and doctor from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, devoted himself to environmental protection after his retirement. His leading team founded the SEE Noah’s Ark project, including nature education and nature conservation of Yunnan golden monkey habitat. It is understood that the "Yunnan Golden Monkey Protection Project" initiated by SEE Southwest Project Center in 2016 is an attempt to protect the flagship species.
Yunnan golden monkey
In the past four years, Xiao Jin’s project to protect wildlife and ecological diversity, such as "Noah’s Ark Keeping Home", has accumulated 10.38 million yuan after being launched on Tencent’s public welfare platform. Many netizens’ loving actions have contributed to the protection of Baima Snow Mountain, the core hinterland of the "Three Parallel Rivers" world natural heritage. Like Yu Jianhua, Yu Xinhua was one of the first patrol officers. In the early years, Yu Xinhua’s family economic conditions were relatively poor. Later, he learned to breed Himalayan bees and relied on beekeeping to improve his family conditions significantly. Today, Yu Xinhua provides education for two children. "After raising Himalayan bees, I dare not destroy the surrounding mountains and trees, for fear of destroying the honey-collecting environment of bees," Yu Xinhua said.
Protecting the environment is ultimately to protect the people there. On November 14th, 88 poverty-stricken counties in Yunnan Province announced that they had all withdrawn from the poverty-stricken county sequence. Many local villagers like Yu Xinhua have successfully lifted themselves out of poverty and embarked on a well-off road. (Photo/Wen Chen Dong)