1. Land use and farming systems.

Main livelihood activities (such as shifting cultivation, paddy farming and cash cropping, terraced agriculture, grazing, fishing, tourism, etc..)

2. Mixed land tenure system

Three regimes coexist in the ecological zones. The rangelands are used in a collective fashion that requires inter-communal arrangements. For many years the rule was to engage Tibetan herders. They are recognised for their skill concerning the rotation of the pastureland areas to avoid overgrazing. They also possess the knowledge to cure the livestock. This customary regulation has decayed since 1980, when the State introduced animals from Baoshan that are not used to the altitude. Many got sick and the Tibetan herders could not cope with this challenge with the available medicinal plants. They had to search for other medical systems. The highland pine forest is the only area regulated by the State. Whereas the dry forest in which some patches of shifting cultivation can be found is collectively managed as well as the river waters. The irrigated agro forestry zone, as well as the farmlands, are under the household responsibility system.

3. Agro-biodiversity

The villagers classify in their local languages a mosaic of alpine pasturelands and different types of plants of edible fruits like wild strawberry, wild grapes and many wild vegetables like fern, or bamboo shoots.

The State forest is rich in pine varieties, oak, fir, poplar, cypress as well as flowers like azalea, medicinal plants like Chinese eucommia, hong duo shan, Chinese yew, tiama, beimu, tong chong ha cho, zhulin, huang liang, sanqi, chong chao and a great variety of wild fungi and not only Matsutake. Some wildlife can be found like Giant Panda, blue goat, river deer and Golden pheasant. Since this area has a particular spiritual meaning, many ceremonies and rituals take place here. Tibetans put prayer flags on the top of the mountain to ask for the protection of flora and fauna and to get the permission to hunt. Very often one can find that old big trees are treated like temples. Particularly at the end of the winter or at the beginning of spring the villagers put some smooth stones at the bases of old trees, burn incense and worship them. They also bring some food crops like, maize and buckwheat to the holy tree.

In the collective dry forestry zone we find two Malimasa hamlets, Aguma and Caijialou with 18 households, 109 persons. Each household woman keeps a home garden with several vegetables, grains, medicinal plants, fruit trees, fiber and, aromatic plants and flowers (for the bees). All these various products are exclusively for family consumption. Domestic animals such as horses, yellow cow, pigs, sheep, chicken etc. are usually in the charge of young women. The predominant tree species of this zone are old, gigantic Walnut trees used mainly for oil and also as fruit. There are also different varieties of bamboos used for raw material for baskets and fences. Chestnut and lacquer trees are used to obtain cooking oil and the basis for painting wood. In the patches of shifting cultivation villagers grow sweet and bitter buckwheat, three types of highland rice, traditional maize varieties, hemp among other dry land crops. Also taking place in this zone are the setting of stone altars to ask for the protection of the domestic animals, the trees, to ask for timely rain, and good conditions of the land races of rice, the traditional maize varieties, hemp and buckwheat.