Xuedou Mountain, in Ningbo in Zhejiang province, recognized as a national park since the 1980s and one of the five renowned mountains of Buddhism in China, has been receiving more than one million visitors annually since 1991. Covering an area of 85 km2 in the unique Danxia landform, the mountain has rich natural resources. It is a habitat for 1,600 animal species, 20 of which are threatened, as well as for plants facing a high risk of extinction, such as Eucommia ulmoides and Pteroceltis tatarinowii.
Nevertheless, 52 construction projects began in 2014, including the Buddhist Academy of Zhejiang together with temples and other places of worship. In 2018 a construction scheme comprising 12 additional projects began. The governors of Fenghua district, with representatives of other governmental institutions, announced a plan to build a village of cultural and historical significance on the mountain, aiming to boost local cultural and ecological tourism. Investments of CNY 16 billion (c. GBP 1.83 billion) were secured from companies, including China's leading real estate developer, the Evergrande Group.
This construction programme entails extensive logging, paving and construction of infrastructure, and has fragmented and damaged areas of natural habitat. The programme has also expropriated the farmland and houses of local peasants, and affected the well-being of those whose social and economic lives depend on the diminishing natural resources.
As in other scenic places, tourism to Xuedou Mountain has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with all construction projects halted. But with the situation gradually brought under control, the provincial government is now taking measures to reinvigorate tourism. In April 2020 a joint meeting of the Provincial Park Association of Zhejiang and the China Association of National Parks and Scenic Sites announced a plan to revitalize the development of local tourism, with all interrupted construction projects to resume.
To reverse the adverse impacts of these projects on the local environment and communities, the Ningbo government plans to introduce a compensation policy to tackle the losses of biodiversity and attendant effects on human well-being. The policy includes ecological restoration following construction and financial compensation for affected local residents. However, without effective biodiversity offsetting, this policy is insufficient to redress the losses fully. How to offset the residual losses in one area of the mountain with commensurate gains in another area remains a challenge for the Ningbo government.
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