Chou Wen-chung

Leadership Conference on Conservancy and Development: Introductory Remarks

[continued]

Realizing that Yunnan's need for innovative strategies is of a global nature, and that Yunnan also offers challenging sites for evolving such strategies applicable on a worldwide basis, the Center began in 1997 the process of moving toward a balanced concept for conservancy and development by proposing an international leadership conference to be held in Yunnan. At the same time, the Yunnan leadership appointed a small group of scholars, including the principal participants in the Joint Plan’s research group, to draft a long-range policy for the province's development on the basis of its great cultural and ecological diversity. This policy statement substantively echoed views held by the Center and its advisors, and the participants of the Joint Plan. The Center was invited to comment on the policy at the province-wide conference held for its evaluation. An agreement was then reached with the Yunnan leadership that the Center and the Yunnan Provincial Association for Cultural Exchanges with Foreign Countries to co-sponsor the international Leadership Conference on Conservancy and Development. The agenda, papers, and speakers, as well as site visits and demonstrations were planned through broad but detailed consultation with institutional and individual members of the Joint Plan, community mentors and master artists, and with the Center’s advisors, as well as numerous consultants from the United States and Asia, including representatives of international organizations with projects in Yunnan, who contributed generously to the planning of the Conference over the period of a year and a half.

The Leadership Conference on Conservancy and Development was held from September 13 through 18, 1999, with the participation of more than 180 experts and observers from Yunnan, China at large and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, as well as from the United States and ten countries in Asia, Europe, and the Pacific region. The events of the Conference consisted of briefings, exhibits, performances, demonstrations, site visits, and presentation and discussion sessions; and were held in Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan, and Lijiang, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The agenda covered a wide range of presentations and discussions in areas such as the current condition of Yunnan's culture, ecology, economy and society, and its potential for change; how culture and nature conservancy complement each other and influence economic and social development; strategies for comprehensive and sustainable conservancy while promoting economic growth; and whether Yunnan, in view of its cultural and ecological diversity, offers appropriate conditions for conceiving globally applicable strategies; and how these deliberations will improve the quality of life and sustain the heritage of each of the nationalities of Yunnan.

Page 3 of 6