**3. Traditional ecological customary laws associated with biodiversity of ethnic groups in China**

The diversity of ethnic groups in China enables the development of distinct economic and cultural types, cultural ecological zones, and livelihoods. Throughout history, whether it was a hunter-gatherer nation, an animal herder nation, or a farming nation, whether it is a nation engaged in slash-and-burn farming, a mountain-grazing nation, a mountain-hunting nation, or a hilly rice-cultivating nation, all played a role in preserving ecological balance, protecting traditional knowledge of the natural environment. Chinese ethnic groups have developed traditional ecological customary lanes in long-term production and life practice. This sort of ancient ecological customary rule maintains and enriches the genetic variety of the original varieties. Thus, the traditional ecological customary law of genetic diversity is mostly expressed in traditional subsistence techniques. In general, the traditional ecological customary law on crops and livestock in traditional livelihoods objectively protects the diversity of local biological genetic resources, making traditional livelihoods a "gene pool" for the conservation and utilization of biological diversity genetic resources, and this "gene pool" is evolving in a dynamic, constantly changing, and developing process.

### **3.1 Traditional ecological customary laws related to crop genetic diversity**

The first is the traditional ecological customary law related to the genetic diversity of crops, which is of great value to the conservation, classification, management, and enrichment of the genetic diversity of crops. A more representative example is the rotation agriculture of the Jinuo people in Jinuo Mountain, Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan. These traditional ecological practices are valuable for conservation and sustainable utilization of crop genetic diversity. The customary law established through rotation farming encompasses selection, preservation, hybridization, and cultivation technology for indigenous upland rice varieties, which breed the abundant genetic variety of indigenous crops represented by upland rice germplasm resources. One may argue that the Jinuo people's resources for traditional upland rice varieties are the outcome of their cultivation and breeding utilizing appropriate customary procedures. These kinds exemplify the practice and invention of the Jinuo people's rotation agriculture's traditional ecological customary ways, which accurately depict the traditional highland rice varieties. Genetic diversity, these various resources are inextricably linked to and simultaneously complementary to crop rotation agriculture's traditional ecological customary rule.

On Jino Mountain, the laws governing the local Jino people's usage of varied cultivated crops, particularly the land classification and use system, can be considered an integral aspect of the Jino people's traditional ecological customary law. Jinuo People classify land into three distinct categories: Zhexiao, Zhejiao, and Dieta. In general, the first type of land, Zhexiao, is found at low elevations, the second type of land, Zhexiao, is found at moderate elevations, and the third type of land, Dieta, is found

at high elevations. The Jinuo people cultivate food crops such as upland rice, corn, sorghum, millet; cash crops such as cotton, tea, tobacco leaves; oil crops such as peanut, suzi, sesame; there are cereals and vegetables such as sweet potatoes, potatoes, soybeans, taro, pumpkin, winter melon, cucumber, cantaloupe, eggplant, pepper, rice beans, green beans, green vegetables, cabbage, fennel, Chuanxiong, garlic, ginger, lemon grass, and a variety of grains and vegetables, including sweet potato, potato, soybean, taro, pumpkin, winter melon, cucumber, cantaloupe, eggplant, chili, rice beans, green beans, green vegetables, cabbage, fennel, Sichuan Qiong, garlic, ginger, and lemongrass, Soybeans, taro, pumpkin, winter melon, cucumber, cantaloupe, eggplant, chili, rice beans, green beans, green vegetables, cabbage, fennel, sichuan vault, garlic, ginger, vanilla. However, not all three types of land are conducive to cultivating all crops. Upland rice comes in a variety of cultivars that are ideal for growing on various types of land. Soybeans can be sown broadly; maize is grown exclusively on the first and second types of land, while cotton is cultivated only on the first type of land. Cotton fields are commonly referred to as "white treasure fields," and they are frequently interplanted with a range of crops. For instance, in a sloping field, cotton and glutinous rice can be planted in the lower section with a little warmer environment, while cold-resistant upland rice variety can be grown in the slightly cooler upper section, then plant sorghum, corn, coix, beans, melons, and vegetables into the cotton and upland rice in the low places or on the edge of the ground; taro, yam, and potato in areas with a heavy soil layer of fire ash; plant perilla, soybean, and sesame in areas with barren soil and thin soil; plant pepper, eggplant, sunflower, and other crops adjacent to ant mounds; ginger and pumpkin are frequently planted on the ground's edge. The photograph below shows many traditional upland rice varieties grown on diverse land types in Mount Jinuo (**Figure 1**).
