Back from the Brink

Back from the Brink

Rescuing the White-Headed Langur

By TANG YUANKAI

Pan Wenshi maintains that protection of endangered animals should not be sought at the expense of the livelihood of farmers.

PAN Wenshi is a living legend in the Chinese zoology community. Having spent 16 years in remote mountain regions investigating the behavioral patterns, living conditions and genetics of giant pandas, he is known to his scientific brethren as "The Father of the Panda." Given the great success of his research, most people would expect Pan to retire to a quiet life in his twilight years. This highly respected Peking University professor shows no signs of slowing down, however, even as  he enters his 75th year.

For the past 31 years, Pan has spent at least 10 months each year in forests. Over the last 15 years, the professor has focused his research and conservation efforts on the white-headed langur, a primate relative of ours even more endangered than the giant panda.

White-headed langurs are native to China and have lived in their current locale for more than three million years. As their habitat has been steadily encroached upon by human activity over the past century, the species is now only found on steep wooded inclines in the limestone karst region of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in southwest China.

Langurs are born with canary yellow fur. After several years, this coat turns black, with the exception of the fur on the tops of their heads and the ends of their tails, which becomes brilliantly white.

When Pan first caught sight of a white-headed langur back in 1996, the plight of this beautiful creature was brought starkly to his attention. Pan was observing a langur just as villagers began blasting a mountain to form a limestone quarry, and was touched by the sadness and desperation he saw in the creature's eyes. At that time, less than 100 remained in the wild and the species was facing imminent extinction due to poaching and destruction of their natural habitat.

Pan couldn't bring himself to leave the region without doing something to help this seriously endangered primate.  Since then, he has focused his energies on studying and protecting a 24-square-kilometer langur habitat in Chongzuo County, Guangxi. According to Pan, a mere 30 years ago the area was also home to the Indochinese tiger, but that majestic animal is nowhere to be seen these days.

"The white-headed langur is considered one of the world's 25 most endangered primates. While we cannot prevent it from dying out due to natural selection, we scientists are unable to sit back and watch this creature driven to extinction by encroaching human activity.

In Chongzuo, such a clashing of human settlements with the local ecosystem was to some extent inevitable. Mountains and forests provide our primate cousins with their foraging needs while local villagers had been dependent on the forest's trees for fuel. With an annual per capita income of only RMB 400, villagers had resorted to quarrying as a source of income. Seeing this quandary, Pan realized that alleviating local poverty was essential if the region's unique fauna was going to survive in the long term.

Villagers were a bit perplexed when Pan started purchasing cow dung from them. Mixing the dung with specific local weeds and leaves in a pit and then letting the concoction ferment for a few days, Pan extracted methane, a byproduct of the chemical reaction taking place. Much to the villagers' delight, this provided a ready source of fuel for cooking and heating, and the procedure proved to be easier than collecting firewood.

Based on Pan's proposal, the local government in tandem with several scientific institutions has financed the construction of more than 400 biogas tanks in the area. Villages have become clean and green, and the surrounding ecological environment is recovering.   

Access to drinking water has also been a problem for Chongzuo villages. To supply locals with this basic need and economic development, Pan petitioned for water pipelines to be built in the area and helped finance the project with his winnings from environmental awards received from the U.S., which include the prestigious Ford Environment Award.

Professor Pan maintains that protection of the endangered should not be sought at the expense of the livelihood of farmers. He developed this philosophy during his experience with the giant pandas of the Qinling Mountains.

On discovering that logging in the mountains was seriously threatening the panda population, Pan, along with a number of other scientists, petitioned the government to ban the razing of forests in the area. However, Pan and his colleagues soon came to understand that since logging was the major local industry, prohibiting the activity by setting up a nature reserve would greatly hinder regional development and threaten locals' livelihoods. "Sure, it's a dilemma. I thought hard about it, and decided that the best strategy was to change the way locals lived in order to improve the fortunes of both humans and wild animals in the area," says Pan.

In Guangxi, villagers are grateful for the work Pan has done in the area and praise his devotion to ensuring the survival of the white-headed langurs. Locals have come to realize the importance of protecting wildlife. Now, when non-local poachers try to hunt or trap the langurs, locals will stop them or report their activities to the local government. If they find an injured or sick langur, they immediately take it to the Peking University Biodiversity Research Institute in Chongzuo set up by Pan and his team.

Since the beginning Pan has been clear with locals that such help would not be rewarded monetarily, saying, "Protection of the species should be a moral imperative for locals, and should not be a way to squeeze easy money out of the government." Over the long term Pan expects to see a change in local people's mindset towards harmonious coexistence of man and nature.

"One day, a farmer came to see me," Pan recalls. "He was known as one of the best hunters in the area, but had come to apologize for accidentally killing a snake while doing his farm work. I was both surprised and delighted." Such a dramatic change is no doubt indicative of the hard work Pan has done in Chongzuo.

Members of the public are also joining in various voluntary activities at the research institute. In the eyes of volunteers, the significance of wildlife conservation efforts lies in contributing to the wellbeing of all living creatures on the planet. Professor Pan greatly appreciates the time that these volunteers put in and says their work really makes a difference. 

Pan's efforts in Guangxi have not gone unnoticed by local officials. In the past 15 years, the local government has invested RMB 10 million to rehabilitate the eco-environment in the langur's habitat.

Pan relates a story from one of his early visits to Chongzuo County. An official had come looking for him in a valley where he was conducting research and informed him that the county magistrate had requested his presence. Pan was not surprised – his work has often conflicted with local economic interests. But on this occasion, instead of an argument Pan found himself treated to a feast and a declaration of support for his work by the Party secretary of Chongzuo County.

With encouragement and support from all circles, Pan and his team have been able to successfully carry out their research into the white-headed langur's behavioral patterns and habitat. An important breakthrough came in August 2002, when Dr. Pan and his team announced new discoveries about the langur's mating habits and evolutionary development.

Today, an advanced video surveillance system enables scientists to observe the species in close proximity inside the nature reserve without a human presence. Moreover, the langur population has increased to more than 600 from 96 in 1996.   

Peking University's Biodiversity Research Institute in Chongzuo has become a world-class base for wildlife observation. The nature reserve it monitors also serves as an ecotourism park. According to the Guangxi Forestry Bureau, the ecopark doesn't affect the langurs' habitat, visitor numbers are strictly limited and tourists are kept at a safe distance from the animals.

The best way to protect a species is to preserve the ecological diversity of its habitat. The local government in Chongzuo is determined to do a better job in protecting the endangered langurs while at the same time making the animal better known to the public.

Russell A. Mittermeier, president of Conservation International, gives high praise to Pan for his preservation efforts. "It's a model for what can be done in hot-spot areas that have been environmentally devastated by development," he says. "Pan has combined all the elements — protection, research, ecotourism, good relations with the local community; he's really turned the case of the white-headed langur into a regional paradigm of how to rescue an animal from the brink of extinction."