In order to establish efficient and sustainable management of natural resources, the Bazhu Village community with support of the Greater Shangri-la RCE is working to build individual and collective capacity for lasting biodiversity protection. This has been achieved through the set-up of the Bazhu Community Nature Reserve (CNR). This mechanism supports community empowerment by exploring ways to protect local biodiversity traditional culture, to help increase the villagers’ incomes and improve their livelihood, to benefit from ecological conservation and to open up the road to sustainability. The Bazhu CNR focuses on public participation in conservation, provided a platform for networking with environment-friendly partners nationally and internationally, to share social learning and experiences. It is hoped that the CNR will have broader influence and be scalable to other communities.