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Featured in La Repubblica

Marc Foggin — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 08:52:20 +0000

The work of Plateau Perspectives was recently featured in La Repubblica, an Italian publication, through the photography of Kieran Dodds and interviews with Marc Foggin. View the full article at: La Repubblica

2012 Annual Report

Marc Foggin — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 07:59:28 +0000

Annual Report: 2012 was an exciting year for Plateau Perspectives as we continued our long-term work as well as launched a few new ventures. Please have a look at our 2012 Annual Report for more details.

Promised Land

Marc Foggin — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 07:54:22 +0000

Long-standing friend of Plateau Perspectives, Kieran Dodds visited the Sanjiangyuan region in Qinghai Province in summer of 2012. Whilst assisting the field team with development of tourism marketing strategies, he documented through visual media some of the many critical issues currently facing herding communities in the region. Published by South China Morning Post, the article “Promised Land” captures issues from climate change to conservation. The full article is available here.

Kora: Adventure Wear Inspired by Yaks

Marc Foggin — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 07:51:32 +0000

The founder of Kora, Michael Kleinwort, was recently interviewed by TrekWorld about his unique adventure wear created from yak wool. Plateau Perspectives has been working with kora and the Kegawa Herders Cooperative to help improve local pastoral economies through the development of fair and sustainable business partnerships. This is an exciting new venture that creates much opportunity for Tibetan herders to access global markets and to achieve greater economic stability in an unpredictable environment. The full article “Adventure Wear Inspired by Yaks” can be read here.

UNDP GEF Qinghai

Marc Foggin — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 07:48:01 +0000

A new project entitled ‘Strengthening the effectiveness of the protected area system in Qinghai Province, China, to conserve globally important biodiversity’ began in 2012. The 5-year project is financed by the provincial government and UNDP/GEF and seeks to catalyze the management effectiveness of the protected area system with a focus on mainstreaming biodiversity and protected area concerns into other government sectors and development planning processes, on building both institutional and staff capacities within the provincial Forestry Department (and other related agencies) and individual nature reserves, and on promoting and expanding collaborative management (co-management) with local resource user groups. The project will be executed by the provincial Forestry Department, supported by the United Nations Development Programme. The community co-management part of this UNDP supported project is based, to a significant degree, on the prior work undertaken by Plateau Perspectives since 1998 with Tibetan herding communities in the headwaters of the Yangtze River in southwest Qinghai Province.

Articles on Co-Management work published in Journal of Pastoralism

Marc Foggin — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 03:33:42 +0000

In September 2012 an article by Dr. Marc Foggin, as well as an article in October 2011 by Dr. Marc Foggin and Dr. Torrance-Foggin, were published in the Journal of Pastoralism. These articles highlighted the work in regards to co-management that has been undertaken in Qinghai for the last several years, and provides steps for how future decision making can be informed.

Foggin, J.M. and M. Torrance-Foggin. 2011. How can social and environmental services be provided for mobile Tibetan herders? Collaborative examples from Qinghai Province, China Pastoralism 1:21.

Foggin, J.M. 2012. Pastoralists and wildlife conservation in western China: collaborative management within protected areas on the Tibetan Plateau Pastoralism2:17.

Progress in Developing Ecotourism

Marc Foggin — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 06:10:45 +0000

This summer we saw great progress in the development of ecotourism in the Zhiduo County area. The purpose of this initiative is to help provide alternative sources of income and poverty alleviation. PP staff are currently working with four communities to help establish a framework for ecotourism that will benefit local communities and the environment. Key to this strategy is helping organize communities in a way that they are self-reliant and not dependent on outside sources of funding. This involves capacity building exercises, training, and simply working beside them as business plans are being developed. Currently a draft business plan has been created by each community, each of which should be finalized early in the new year. PP staff also travelled the region in late August and early September to meet with community leaders and to visit potential tourist sites.

2 January 2012

Marc Foggin — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 15:03:38 +0000

Plateau Perspectives is beginning a new project in 2012 in Qinghai Province, with bilateral development aid assistance from the Norwegian Agency for Development (NORAD) via Digni and HimalPartner, with a focus on building local capacities (and engaging with the policy environment) for community ecotourism and enhancing community involvement in protected area management. In broad terms, the geographic focus of this project is the Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve; however much attention will remain on Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, which is now being rebuilt (post-earthquake) as ecotourism destination. This project continues work carried out by Plateau Perspectives over the past several years with support from NORAD, Ford Foundation and other partners, and complements the new UNDP-GEF initiative entitled “Strengthening the Effectiveness of the Protected Area System in Qinghai Province.” It will also continue previous developments in the area of collaborative management, wildlife conservation and local governance in the form of herders cooperative. See the section Community Tourism for more information about this project.

1 December 2011

Marc Foggin — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 15:02:36 +0000

The people of Muqu village have been monitoring wildlife, especially snow leopard, since the late 1990s. Following establishment of Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve (SNNR), they also have collaborated effectively with conservation authorities to protect wildlife by serving as park wardens. Their duties have included monitoring wildlife populations, anti-poaching patrols and raising awareness about wildlife and the environment. Most recently, snow leopard conservation by this innovative local herding community has been supported with use of automatic camera-traps. For more detail about this work, see sections on Collaborative Management and Wildlife Conservation as well as a description on QinghaiEcotourism.org and a slideshow recently published in ChinaDialogue.

1 October 2011

Marc Foggin — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 14:03:55 +0000

Following the major 7.1 magnitude earthquake that devastated the Yushu area in April 2010, Plateau Perspectives has been working with local Government partners to determine how it can be of greatest assistance. In the health field, we signed a five-year agreement with the Yushu Disabilities Association in July 2011 to assist with the establishment and development of rehabilitation services in the prefecture – starting in Longbao, the town that was nearest the epicentre of the earthquake, followed by assistance to the Rehabilitation Centres currently being established in support of disabled people in Zhiduo and Qumalai counties as well as in Yushu, Zaduo and other counties. Plateau Perspectives’ main areas of professional support are in equipping the Centres and in training both staff workers and community-based health (rehabilitation) workers. See the sections Rehabilitation Services and Yushu Earthquake 2010 for more detailed information about this project and other earthquake-related matters.