The project site is located in east of Niubeiliang National Nature Reserve which is in the south foot of Qinling Mountain in Shaanxi province, where is the home of giant panda and many other species. The average income of local people is $326 per capita per year.
Main Problems:
In recent years, due to the transport improvement in mountain area and increasing needs for honey, large amounts of western honeybee flood into remote mountain in in Qinling area in nectar flow season from May to June in every year. Qinling area is one of the last habitats of Chinese honeybee which is in the danger of extinction. Western honeybee occupies the living space of Chinese honeybee and kill Chinese honeybee, and this makes status of Chinese honeybee more severe. Local residents follow the old traditional beekeeping habits which means there is no gene exchange; scattered distribution of beekeepers also hinders the gene exchange. The lack of gene exchange leads to population degeneration: number of bee decreases from 20,000-30,000 in records to 10,000-20,000. The only purpose for beekeeper is honey and this encourages local residents to capture Chinese honeybee in the wild, as a result, the population of Chinese honeybee keeps declining. Sacbrood virus was originally form western honeybee, after gene mutation, it became Chinese bee sacbrood virus. This virus made Chinese honeybee died out in Chinese plain area in 1970s, and lived only in mountain areas. According to the statistics, there are more than 5,000,000 colonies of Chinese honeybee in the whole country before 1960; while in 2011 there are less than 500,000 colonies in China.

Chinese honeybee only lives in mountain area like Qinling mountain, and it can do flower pollination for the lush vegetation in Qinling mountain especially for some rare and endangered species blooming in early spring, late autumn and late winter. If Chinese honeybee extinct in Qinling mountain, it will cause inestimable ecological disaster.
Rationale /Solutions
The project will establish Chinese honeybee protection area in order to keep western honeybee out of the reserve, conduct gene exchange among different Chinese honeybee populations, and selectively breed population with anti-sacbrood disease genes. This project aims to enlarge the wild Chinese honeybee population in the wild by two main ways: one is to release Chinese honeybee to the wild in bee swarming period every year; the second is to prevent capturing Chinese honeybee from the wild. Meanwhile the project will set up Chinese honeybee agriculture cooperatives and hold Chinese honeybee protection seminar in order to improve Chinese honeybee keeping skills, publicize Chinese honeybee to the public and the media, and also facilitate the making of relative Chinese honeybee protection regulations to keep ecological balance in Qinling mountain area. This project will develop the household Chinese honeybee apiculture in Qinling area, and make it as a main income source for local people. Therefore this project allow Chinese honeybee to play its role as the keystone specie of coevolution and also change local residents' role from environment subverter to environment protector.
Anticipated results/outcomes
1. establish a Chinese honeybee apiculture reserve in Fengbeihe;
2. increase 400 colonies of Chinese honeybee in local apiculture?
3. release above 40 colonies of Chinese honeybee to the wild?
4. conduct gene exchange of Chinese honeybee among Zhashui, Ningxia, Zhouzhi, Foping, Taibai
5. Establish a Chinese honeybee apiculture cooperative?
6. Local income through Chinese honeybee keeping increase more than 200,000RMB?
7. Chinese honeybee protection become well-known topic of ecology protection through seminar?
8. establish cooperation networking of Chinese honeybee protection in Qinling mountain area.