Changing Adaptive Strategies of Two Li Ethnic Minority Villages in a Mountainous Region of Hainan Island, China(<Special Issue>Land Use Changes in the Uplands of Southeast Asia: Proximate and Distant Causes)

Abstract

The authors reconstructed the changes of adaptive strategies in two Li ethnic minority villages (Shuimanand Paori villages) in Hainan Island of China. Shuiman village lies at the foot of Mount Wuzhishan and hasbeen influenced by government by-laws for environmental conservation and tourism promotion since the1990s, while Paori village has adopted cash crops that have been introduced by the government since the1980s. The interview surveys conducted with the villagers, together with the analyses of satellite imagesindicated that in Shuiman village, the past grasslands became secondary forest dominated by Hanamelidacea over the past 20 years, while, in Paori village, the shrub/grasslands and secondary forest as well asthe place where slash-and-burn gardening was practiced, were converted to cash crop gardens. The areaof "mature forest" or "secondary forest" has increased in both village territories. "Triggers" of suchchanges were enforced by government by-laws in Shuiman and the villagers' adoption of cash crops after"epochal" events in Paori village. External factors such as the price of cash crops on world markets andthe conditions of infrastructure also affected changes in the adaptive strategies of the villages.