Rare was present at a cooking contest conducted in the Gaoligong Mountain Nature Reserve, in Yunnan Providence, to encourage residents to cook using electric stoves instead of fuelwood, which contributes to habit loss and the endangerment of animals such as the Hoolock Gibbon.

For one contestant, this was her first time using an electric stove. It was only a matter of seconds before she had familiarized herself with the appliance at the start of the contest. The goal of Rare’s pride campaign at the Gaoligong National Nature Reserve is to reduce firewood consumption and stop the over harvesting of wood in this region. The campaign is designed to implement lifestyle changes by helping local villagers renovate their traditional earth stoves, purchase electric stoves, and train them to use the new appliances.

The cooking contest was held at the Nankang primary school playground. The event kicked off with a puppet show performed by enthusiastic school children, followed by a lovely traditional dance associated with the Dai Ethnicity. The festive mood was contagious, drawing more people to participate. The children screamed with excitement when the Hoolock Gibbon mascots appeared!

Four teams, a total of 12 participants, took part in the contest. Three teams originated from the campaign site, while the last team visited from a nearby community. The housewives competed by each cooking three local dishes within one hour: egg fried potatoes, fried pork with pickled vegetables and spareribs in sour bamboo. The dishes were judged based on aesthetics, taste of the food, and skill at operating an electric stove. At the conclusion of a busy and terrific morning, the judges made some tough decisions and finally awarded prizes.

Participants generally don’t like collecting fuelwood in the mountains. To gather just one bundle of fuelwood requires half a day. In addition, they are afraid of getting caught by forest rangers.

Some women said that while they like the electric stoves very much, they are afraid the electric fees are unaffordable. In an effort to reduce this cost, however, a nationwide project to more efficiently transmit electricity to rural areas will reach Gaoligong by the end of next month. Electric fees will be reduced by 50 percent.

The day after the cooking contest, campaign manager Duan Honglian led a training workshop about Rareplanet.org to teach her team members how to use the social networking site. She then updated the public with the status of this pride campaign, which can also be tracked on the campaign’s Rareplanet.org page Campaign for Sustainable Forest Use / Gaoligong Mountain Nature Reserve, Yunnan Province. Now one year since the beginning of her training, Honglian spoke with great confidence, whereas last year she was too nervous to utter a complete sentence. Honglian’s presentation is a reminder that Pride campaigns are not only inspiring conservation, but also developing campaign managers’ leadership skills.

After lunch, a reserve ranger lead an eventful walk where we discovered a gibbon sunbathing in a tree. The ranger told us the gibbon’s nickname is “lonely girl,” an appropriate name given her circumstances. She cannot find a husband due to habitat fragmentation and frequent disturbances such as over-logging, over-consumption of fuelwood, Tsaoko fruit harvesting, tourists, and scientific research, among other things.

We have faith in our efforts to restore and improve the environment for local biodiversity and hope that our “lonely girl” will marry as soon as possible.

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