Yunnan is recognized as a very important region with rich germ plash resources of rat-tan plant in China,and the local ethnic groups possess abundant indigenous knowledge on rattan cultivation,utilization and conservation.Rattan,as a kind of non-timber forest product,plays an important role in biodiversity conservation,potential economic contribution,ecological security and other global issues.Moreover,it is closely related with local people,and earned income for various local minority nationalities.However,there are also some problems in the rattan industry with the economic development,such as destruction of tropical forest,environmental degradation,reduction of rattan resources,and especially some elite rattan species become scarce,even endangered.So the introduction,propagation and cultivation of the elite rattan species will not only satisfy the needs of rattan industry,but also create new employment opportunities,increase income of rural communities,efficiently protect natural resources and mitigate the pressure on natural forests,promote ecological sustainability and enrich the Chinese elite rattan species gene pool.This paper mainly discusses the present situation of rattan resources,their utilization and future development strategies,based on the demand of the rattan plantations,consisting of four objectives:(1)to sum-marize the characteristics of rattan resources and their distribution in Yunnan;(2)to introduce the current conditions in rattan studies;(3)to discuss the problems confronting rattan development;and(4)to recommend the rattan development strategies and scenario-based models in Yunnan.