Docents from the Panda International Forest Camp lead participants in identifying plants and learning about nature in Yingjing, Sichuan province. [Photo provided to CHINA DAILY]
Longcanggou township, located at the southern gateway of China's Giant Panda National Park in Sichuan province, has emerged as a premier national model for balancing wildlife conservation with community development.
Once reliant on coal mining and logging, the Sichuan province community has successfully transitioned to a thriving green economy. By transforming local villagers into homestay hosts, nature guides, and conservation rangers, the township has proved that protecting the environment can be highly profitable for local residents.
About 80 percent of Longcanggou's terrain is covered in forests, and nearly 60 percent of the township lies within the boundaries of the Giant Panda National Park. It was among the first pilot regions to begin exploring community management approaches at the park's entrance area in 2017.
Zhou Yang, a local official administering the community, said a key approach has been to divide the area into three concentric zones. The core protection zone prohibits all but essential human activities, mainly scientific research and conservation work.
"The general control zone allows for nature education and ecological experience programs," he said. "And the functional support zone focuses on developing ecology-related industries, so that local people can also gain benefits and better participate in the management of the national park."
The establishment of the national park, he said, catalyzed a series of changes in their livelihoods.
"For instance, we have trained and supported local residents to open guesthouses, work as forest rangers, or become tour guides for museums, hiking and birding," he said.
"They have gradually come to understand the importance of environmental protection and are now actively participating in it, because they have witnessed the benefits brought by conservation efforts and are able to earn income from running eco-friendly businesses," he added.
Hu Tailun, a local villager, was among the first to explore building a rural homestay in 2018. Noting the rising interest from bird-watchers and wildlife enthusiasts in a region that boasts more than 400 bird species, Hu also began learning about birds on his own and was later recruited by local authorities as one of the area's first bird guides.
Hu now receives a subsidy for maintaining safety facilities along the viewing trails and earns extra income by leading visitors on forest explorations, bird-watching excursions and flower-viewing trips.
"The change for us is like night and day," he said. "Before, I earned just enough to get by. After starting the new business, I bought a house and a car. More than that, the whole village has changed."
Docents from the Panda International Forest Camp lead participants in identifying plants and learning about nature in Yingjing, Sichuan province. [Photo provided to CHINA DAILY]
Zhou said that to nurture the growth of tourism, authorities have allocated funds to renovate rural toilets, improve the environment, and upgrade the township square and other public facilities.
"We have also launched regular performances, such as traditional dragon dances or music played by bamboo-made musical instruments, to enrich the experience for tourists here," he said.
Longcanggou has some 70 rural guesthouses and 80 restaurants. The establishment of bird-watching trails is projected to attract an additional 12,000 visitors each year, generating more than 5 million yuan ($736,000) in tourism revenue.
Yingjing county is also home to the first nature-education school inside China's Giant Panda National Park, named the Panda International Forest Camp. The camp has welcomed more than 80,000 visitors since its opening in 2021.
The camp, jointly managed by the local national park authority, tourism officials and a private tourism company, is located in the general control zone. It sits next to an old patrol station, tucked away in verdant, largely undisturbed forests.
To balance conservation with commercial operations, the camp enforces strict visitor registration. Daily capacity is capped at 200 people — well below the 300-person limit set by official evaluations, said Liu Wenxue, the school principal.
Liu added that the camp has made full use of existing infrastructure, such as old patrol routes and large prefabricated wooden homes, allowing for fast construction and environmental sustainability.
According to Liu, educational programs include hiking and field discovery, do-it-yourself activities such as making plant specimens and designing bird-collision-deterrent patterns, as well as long-term research projects.
"Visitors include children and teenagers, families, wildlife enthusiasts and researchers from international organizations," he said. "For younger people, they get to have immersive experiences and may develop a lasting passion for the natural world from here."
The camp has also provided jobs for more than 15 local residents, who work as tour guides, drivers and safety patrollers, he added.
This successful model has since been extended to two other camp sites within nature reserves across Sichuan province, he said.
Official data shows that in 2025 alone, ecotourism and nature education initiatives across the entire Giant Panda National Park drew 6.13 million visitors, generating 6 billion yuan in revenue.
The province of Sichuan has set up 81 joint management committees to involve local villagers, created more than 3,100 ecological public welfare positions, and issued nearly 75 million yuan in compensation funds for about 20,000 affected local people annually.
