At present,China’s environmental pollution issue has become so prominent that it has begun to affect the sustainable development of social economy and people’s daily life.Policy implementation and technology application of environmental governance are often carried out in a top-down manner in the local communities but the key to determining the effect of implementation is closely related to people’s participation.Contrary to previous studies,this paper focuses on the autonomous participation capacities of local communities through the case study of Erhai Lake located in Dali.On the basis of clarifying the traditional pattern of public use of water resources and the predicament faced at present,this paper points out that the effective way to promote public autonomous participation in traditional natural resources management is to respect the folk knowledge and protect the interests of the public,that is,through negotiation and the bottom-up approach,the public will and the community resources management mechanism are to be reflected on the level of government decision-making,and ensure the public rights and interests of using community natural resources fairly and rationally.