Spring Mission in Muchuan (沐川县)

LWMEH participants: Profs. Li Li and Simon Calla, with Tang HeiXia an Qin Fubing

April 12–14: Lecture series

The first part of the trip was devoted to a series of lectures. The first took place at the Chinese Consulate in Chengdu, at the invitation of Samuel Liegeois, the attaché for academic and scientific cooperation. This provided an opportunity to present the work conducted in France on fostering cooperation between hunters, environmentalists, farmers and scientists to an audience of around thirty people and address the controversy surrounding the fox’s status (see CARELI program).

A second lecture was held at the Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The presentation of “A socio-anthropological perspective on human-wildlife conflicts” to fellow biologists and ecologists aimed to promote the interdisciplinary approach developped within the WiMEH and to forge bridges between these two institutions. The following day, the same lecture was delivered to first-year biology and ecology students at Leshan Normal University.

April 14–17: Preparations for upcoming work

This mission also provided an opportunity to continue the exploratory fieldwork that began last October. Various meetings with residents and local authorities in Muchuan county (沐川县) revealed that conducting research in this area offers different practical and scientific challenges (situations of conflict and coexistence between humans and macaques, Macaca mulatta, within the same territory; effects of landscape transformation on agriculture and tourism; intersection of environmental justice and biodiversity conservation issues; etc.).

The morning before Simon Calla’s departure was devoted to discussions regarding the launch of a research project beginning in September 2026. It will bring together French and Chinese faculty members from WiMEH and involve students from Leshan Normal University.