Targeted Location and Population:

Baoxing County is located in the western edge of Sichuan Basin, which is the first place that panda was found in China. A nature reserve has been established for panda conservation since then.

Local residents mainly live on farming and breeding, per capita arable land is very small, people rely on firewood as the main energy source. Per capita annual income is about 2300 Yuan. In the selected 80 households, about 10% are the sub-poverty households.

Problems:
Forest resources (timber) are seriously excessive consumed as the firewood for energy resource by local farmers.The villagers in nature reserve live far away from the city, they have to keep a tradition of relying on the mountain, depending on logging and hunting. 5000 kilograms of firewood is needed to provide the daily life energy consumption for a family of three. And 400000 kilograms of firewood is needed to provide the daily life energy consumption for 80 households a year.
These not only undermine the conservancy of the ecological resources, directly result in soil erosion, and bring difficulties for the survival of pandas, but also cause diseases to the local farmers, such as the smoke produced by burning firewood, resulting in a large number of women of lung cancer.

Solutions/ planned activities:

1. Build biogas digesters and provide trainings to households on eco-agriculture.

2. Train a biogas construction and maintenance team for townships based on train-the-trainer model; conduct the climate change training for the trainers; help villagers to establish voluntary mutual aid funds.

3. Hold a workshop on the development and better use of renewable energy in the Nature Reserve; submit a policy suggestion report on promotion of renewable energy and eco-agriculture and cultivation to Chinese government.

Anticipated results/ immediate outputs of this project:

1. about 80 biogas digesters are constructed for local farmers, equal to reduce around 56 tons of CO2 emissions; 80 households receive eco-agriculture and cultivation training; firewood combustion and CO2 emission and biodiversity loss are obviously reduced and farmer's livelihoods are improved.

2. about 6 biogas digester construction and maintenance teams for townships have the skill of biogas digester construction and knowlage of climate change.

3.A policy suggestion report on promotion of renewable energy and eco-agriculture and cultivation to Chinese government aiming to assist nature reserves and local government in integrating renewable energy solutions into the management of nature reserves, and strengthening government policy on energy and sustainable agriculture at the rural level.