Around the world, tourism is often viewed as a ?win-win? solution for local communities and the environment, but in reality it is often a ?lose-lose? proposition, especially in mountain areas. Several examples of these negative situations will be presented in order to demonstrate the challenges facing local people and conservationists during the communities in northwest Yunnan Province in an attempt to create models of green tourism and ecotourism that avoid the pitfalls of conventional tourism development, and progress thus far at our project sites will be summarized. The positive synergies that can be created between indigenous and scientific knowledge systems and between globalization and the interests of local communities will be explored in detail, and useful ecotourism planning and development methodologies will be summarized as well. The broader implications of ecotourism on the multi-functionality of mountain ecosystems will also be discussed in light of our experiences thus far in northwest Yunnan.
