| White Paper on Environmental Protection in Tibet Published |
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The State Council Information Office published on March 10 a white
paper entitled Ecological Improvement and Environmental
Protection in Tibet. The document, divided into six sections,
reviews the progress of ecological improvements and environmental
protection work in Tibet; presenting the status quo of this
undertaking and envisaging the prospects of sustainable development
for the future. The full text of the document follows:
Ecological Improvement and Environmental
Protection in Tibet
Foreword
I. Progress of the Ecological Improvement and
Environmental Protection Work in Tibet
II. Ecological Improvement and Biodiversity
Protection
III. Ecological Improvement and Environmental
Protection amid Economic Development
IV.?Building an Ecology-Friendly Railway Line the
Qinghai-Tibet Railway
V. The Strategic Choice for Sustainable
Development
Foreword
China's Tibet Autonomous Region is situated on the main body of the
Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. With high altitude, unique geographical
features and rich wildlife, water and mineral resources, it has
been called the "Roof of the World" and the "Third Pole of the
Earth." It is not only the "source of rivers" and the "ecological
source" for the areas in South and Southeast Asia, but is also the
"starter" and "regulating area" of the climate of China and indeed
of the Eastern Hemisphere as a whole.
The Chinese government attaches great importance to ecological
improvement and environmental protection in Tibet. It has made
tremendous efforts to strengthen ecological improvement and
environmental protection work in Tibet, promote the sustainable
development of its economy and society, and improve the quality of
life of the people of its various ethnic groups. For over half a
century, ecological improvement and environmental protection in
Tibet, as an important part of the effort to modernize Tibet, has,
together with economic development, social progress and enhancement
of people's living standards, pressed forward and made great
achievements. It would help clarify some people's misunderstanding
concerning Tibet's eco-environmental problem and enhance their
understanding of Tibet to review the progress of the ecological
improvement and environmental protection work in Tibet, to present
the status quo of this undertaking, and to envisage the prospects
of sustainable development for the region.
I. Progress of the Ecological Improvement and
Environmental Protection Work in Tibet
The Tibet Autonomous Region is 1.22 million sq km in area, with an
average altitude of well over 4,000 m above sea level. It boasts a
unique natural ecology and geographical environment. The climate in
Tibet turns gradually from being warm and moist to cold and dry
from its southeast toward its northwest. Ecologically, the changes
are manifested in belts from forest, bush, meadow and steppe to
desert. The complex and varied terrains and landforms as well as
the unique type of ecological system have created a natural
paradise for biodiversity.
The old Tibet before the 1950s had long been under the rule of
feudal serfdom. The development level of its productive forces was
extremely low, and it was, by and large, in a state of passive
adaptation to natural conditions and one-way exploitation of
natural resources. It was absolutely impossible to discuss the
objective law of the ecological environment of Tibet, or to talk
about ecological improvement and environmental protection. From the
latter half of the 19th century, some foreign explorers and
scientists conducted various surveys and investigations on the
Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. In the 1930s, Chinese scientists also
carried out some surveys and investigations there. But, generally
speaking, their knowledge of the unique natural eco-environment of
the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was incomplete and unsystematic.
It
was after the peaceful liberation of Tibet that ecological
improvement and environmental protection started there, and began
to progress along with the modernization of Tibet.
- The peaceful liberation initiated the process of scientific
understanding, voluntary protection and active improvement of the
ecological environment in Tibet. Shortly after the peaceful
liberation of Tibet in 1951, in order to unveil the mysteries of
the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and promote Tibet's social progress and
development, the Central People's Government organized the "Tibet
Work Team of the Government Administration Council" (on the basis
of which the "Tibet Comprehensive Exploration Team of the Chinese
Academy of Sciences" was established in 1958), to explore and
assess land, forest, pastureland, water conservancy and mineral
resources in Tibet. The work team put forward a proposal for
scientific development and utilization, which started the process
of scientific understanding, utilization and protection of the
ecological environment in Tibet.
At
the same time, ecological improvement and environmental protection
work gradually unfolded, with the aim of improving the subsistence
conditions on the Tibet Plateau. The State sent forestry
specialists to explore parts of the Yarlungzangbo River Valley, and
carried out experiments in the cultivation of tree saplings and
afforestation at the July 1 Farm in the western suburbs of Lhasa,
which laid the foundation for large-scale afforestation and
ecological improvement in Tibet. After the implementation of the
Democratic Reform in 1959, a mass voluntary tree-planting drive
using local tree species as the main breeds was launched in a big
way in Tibet. Such afforestation efforts enabled the Tibetan people
to achieve a qualitative leap from the centuries-old passive
adaptation to natural conditions to remaking nature on their own
initiative.
After the founding of the People's Government of the Tibet
Autonomous Region in September 1965, ecological improvement and
environmental protection were put on government agenda and thus
organizationally guaranteed, along with the progress of work in all
spheres achieved by the people's democratic government. In 1975,
the Leading Group for Environmental Protection of the Tibet
Autonomous Region and its General Office were established. In 1983,
the Urban and Rural Construction and Environmental Protection
Department under the government of the Autonomous Region was
established. Since then, the organizational structure and
administrative systems have kept improving, and ecological
improvement and environmental protection work in Tibet has
gradually got onto the track of sound development.
The comprehensive scientific surveys on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau
have helped people to learn about Tibet's natural eco-environment
in a more systematic and profound manner. As a result, ecological
improvement work in Tibet began to make substantial headway. The
Chinese Academy of Sciences formulated the "Comprehensive
Scientific Survey Plan for the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau for
1973-1980." In 1972, the Academy held the "Symposium on Scientific
Survey in the Mt. Qomolangma Area," the first ever, in Lanzhou. In
the wake of this symposium, all types of comprehensive or
specialized academic conferences in respect of the natural
eco-environment of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau were held one after
the other, accompanied by a large number of academic achievements.
The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Comprehensive Scientific Survey Series
alone contains 31 titles in 42 volumes, amounting to a grand total
of some 17 million characters. These scientific achievements have
provided a scientific basis for making better use of natural
resources in the economic development of Tibet, and for continuous
improvement of the human living environment. In 1977, the Ministry
of Agriculture and Forestry organized for the first time an
all-round survey of the forestry resources across Tibet. Since
1978, to meet the requirements of afforestation, some 50 sapling
farms have been set up in various places, introducing, naturalizing
and cultivating scores of tree breeds suitable for Tibet.
- The reform and opening-up has enabled ecological improvement
and environmental protection work in Tibet to progress in a
law-governed manner. After the reform and opening policy was
adopted some two decades ago, as Tibet has grown more modern,
greater attention has been given to the Autonomous Region's
ecological improvement and environmental protection, which is
progressing steadily in a law-governed manner. In the 13 years from
1982 to 1994, the Standing Committee of the People's Congress of
the Tibet Autonomous Region, and the People's Government of the
Tibet Autonomous Region and its various departments enacted and
implemented more than 30 relevant local regulations, governmental
standardization documents, and departmental rules and regulations,
which formed a relatively systematic local legal regime concerning
environmental protection. As far as the contents were concerned,
they included comprehensive regulations concerning ecological and
environmental protection, such as the "Regulations for
Environmental Protection in the Tibet Autonomous Region," as well
as special regulations for different areas of ecological and
environmental protection, such as land management, mineral
resources administration, forest protection, grassland protection
and control, water and soil conservation, wild animals protection,
nature reserves administration, and pollution treatment. These
rules and regulations covered almost all areas in ecological and
environmental protection, so that there were laws to go by in all
these spheres.
The State has directly invested in comprehensive agricultural
development projects on the middle reaches of the "three rivers"
(the Yarlungzangbo, Lhasa and Nyangqu rivers), with the emphasis on
the improvement of the ecological environment, and has achieved
noticeable ecological results. With regard to tree-planting and
grass-growing on barren mountains, hillsides and beaches, the
government has enacted a special policy featuring "the lasting and
inheritable practice of whoever reclaims the land shall be entitled
to operate and get benefit from it." This has encouraged local
people to plant trees and grow grass, and guaranteed the rights and
interests due to them in eco-environmental amelioration.
Investigations on the current status of the ecological environment
in the areas of land, wild fauna and flora, plant, insect and
wetland resources have been successfully carried out.
Eco-environment researchers have begun to monitor and trace the
impact of human activities on the ecological environment, carried
out various projects such as dynamic remote-sensing monitoring of
the eco-environment for comprehensive agricultural development on
the middle reaches of the "three rivers," overall survey of the
grain pollution caused by residual organochlorine, and
investigation on the sources of industrial pollution, and have
proposed relevant policies and measures for pollution prevention
and control.
Publicity and education concerning ecological improvement and
environmental protection have been widely carried out, striking
deep roots in the hearts of the people. The media, including radio,
television, newspapers and the Internet, have given wide coverage
to afforestation, wild animals and plants preservation, and
environmental protection. Important commemorative events, such as
World Wetlands Day, Arbor Day, Earth Day, World Environment Day and
World Desertification and Drought Control Day have drawn the
attention of people from all walks of life in Tibet. Lessons on
ecological improvement and environmental protection are given in
schools, and an effort to establish "green schools" is in full
swing.
- Concern from the Central Government and support from people
throughout the country have enabled Tibet to embark upon a new
phase in its ecological improvement and environmental protection
undertakings. The Central Government called the Third Forum on
Work in Tibet in 1994, and made an important decision to extend the
support of the whole nation to Tibet under the care of the Central
Government, which has given a powerful impetus to accelerating the
ecological improvement and environmental protection work
there.
Since the 1990s, the State Environmental Protection Administration
has organized environmental protection departments throughout the
country to support Tibet in enhancing its environmental protection
capability, helped build environment monitoring stations in the
Autonomous Region, in the cities of Lhasa and Xigaze and in Qamdo
Prefecture, helped train large numbers of technical and
administrative personnel in the field of environmental protection,
and helped formulate an ecological protection and pollution control
plan. In the "National Plan for Eco-environmental Improvement" and
the "National Program for Eco-environmental Protection" formulated
by the State Council respectively in 1998 and 2000, great attention
has been paid to ecological improvement and environmental
protection in Tibet, and a separate plan has been drawn up to make
the freeze thawing zone on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau one of the
country's eight major areas for ecological improvement, complete
with the proposition of a suite of explicit tasks and principles
for work in this regard. On the basis of this, the People's
Government of the Tibet Autonomous Region formulated the
"Eco-environmental Improvement Plan of the Tibet Autonomous Region"
in 2000, which has provided an overall program and arrangement for
Tibet's eco-environmental improvement. After the State decided to
adopt the great western development strategy, the Central
Government held the Fourth Forum on Work in Tibet in 2001, and
further increased investment in ecological improvement projects in
Tibet. From the perspective of attaining sustainable development in
Tibet, it has been expressly stipulated that tourism and green
agriculture be developed as the pillar industries for promoting
economic growth in Tibet.
The State has increased its input in ecological improvement and
environmental protection in Tibet, and intensified supervision on
the law enforcement connected with the ecological environment.
Statistics show that since 1996 the total investment contributed by
the Central Government in items concerning ecological improvement
in Tibet has come to RMB 368 million. At the same time, a plethora
of ecological engineering projects, such as natural forest
protection, restoration of farmland to forest and pasture,
afforestation in Lhasa and its vicinity, wildlife protection, and
nature reserves construction, have been put into operation, which
have effectively improved the eco-environment in Tibet.
Ecological improvement and environmental protection work, which had
nothing to start with in Tibet, has grown incessantly in the past
half century or more, and has undergone a process from
voluntariness to conscientiousness, from passiveness to activeness,
and from an unplanned to a scientific approach. According to the
bulletin on the eco-environmental situation published by the
relevant State authorities in 2000, the environmental quality in
Tibet is in a sound state, and most parts are basically in a
primordial state. Tibet is one of the best areas in the world as
far as natural environment is concerned.
II. Ecological Improvement and Biodiversity
Protection
The positive efforts made by the Tibet Autonomous Region for
ecological improvement and biodiversity protection in the past five
decades or more have been crowned with signal success.
- Natural grassland is rationally utilized and the active
grassland ecological protection is effective. Tibet contains
one of the five largest pasturelands in China. It has 82.07 million
ha of natural grassland, representing about 21% of the total
natural grassland of the country and 68.11% of the total land area
of Tibet. According to the first national survey of grassland
resources, the variety of grassland in Tibet ranks first among all
provinces and autonomous regions. Of the 18 types of grassland in
the country, Tibet has 17. To protect the grassland ecology is an
important link in preserving a complete and orderly chain of
ecology on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
Though the grassland area in Tibet is very large, its carrying
capacity is low. Grassland overload was not significant in the old
days in Tibet, because of stagnant population growth, frequent
natural calamities, and massive human and livestock deaths in times
of snowstorms and other natural disasters. Since the peaceful
liberation of Tibet, the average life-span of the local population
has expanded remarkably, the population has kept increasing, and as
a result the issue of insufficient grass to feed the ever-growing
livestock population has begun to appear. Consequently, to keep an
ecological balance on the pastureland has gradually become a
prominent problem. To ease the contradictions between human beings
and farm animals and between grass supply and farm animals, Tibet
has taken a succession of measures to strengthen the rational
utilization and ecological protection of natural grassland. First,
emphasis has been placed on fencing and building water conservancy
projects on natural grassland, and raising both the output level of
grassland and its carrying capacity per unit area. Secondly, a
pasture responsibility system has been implemented. In line with
the principle of limiting the number of grazing animals by the size
of the pasture, rotation grazing periods, rotation grazing areas
and "no-grazing areas" have been designated. Efforts have been made
to increase the market availability rate of the livestock and to
effectively protect natural pastures by strictly prohibiting
over-grazing. Thirdly, man-made grassland is being promoted so as
to ease the pressure brought to bear on natural grassland by the
ever-growing livestock population. Fourthly, efforts are being
intensified to prevent or control hazards caused by mice, insects
and poisonous weeds, and to maintain the natural ecological balance
of the grassland by utilizing scientific means, and artificial and
biological technologies. Fifthly, to enhance grassland amelioration
in the pastoral areas, change the nomadic way of production, speed
up economic development in pastoral areas and improve herdsmen's
living standards, projects to construct grassland in the pastoral
areas, build permanent settlements for roving herdsmen, and restore
and improve natural grassland have been launched since 2001. These
measures not only have steadily raised the income of farmers and
herdsmen and enhanced their living standards, but also ensured the
sound development of the grassland ecology.
- Protecting natural forest resources, carrying out
afforestation and improving the ecological environment. Tibet
boasts 7.17 million ha of forest, and the stocking volume has
reached 2.091 billion cu m. Tibet has the largest primitive forest
in China. To protect Tibet's ecological environment, the government
exercises a "felling by quota" policy, and strictly controls the
scale of tree-felling in forests. The annual felling amount for
commercial purpose is limited to 150,000 cu m. Simultaneously, a
rotation system is in place for lumbering bases so as to help
restore vegetation. A project for the protection of natural forest
resources on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River in Tibet, with
a total area of 31,000 sq km, has been implemented in the three
counties of Jomda, Gonjo and Markam that have a weighty bearing on
the ecology of the lower Yangtze valley. In 28 counties along the
upper reaches of the Jinsha, Lancang and Nujiang rivers and the
catchment area of the Yarlungzangbo River, where the hazards of
sandstorm and soil erosion are serious, a project to restore
farmland to forest is being undertaken, under which 52,000 ha of
cultivated land will be restored to forest and trees planted on
53,000 ha of barren mountains and wasteland. By 2002, some 6,700 ha
of cultivated land had been restored to forest and 6,700 ha of
barren mountains and wasteland afforested. The government is also
striving to promote the development of energy substitutes and fuel
forests, and popularize solar energy in order to protect natural
bush vegetation.
It
has become the conscious action of the Tibetan people to join
afforestation efforts. The government of the Tibet Autonomous
Region has formulated the "Forestation Plan of the Tibet Autonomous
Region" and the "Opinions on Acceleration of Afforestation." The
people of the whole region are making efforts by starting with the
improvement of their living environments, first of all by greening
their courtyards, streets and urban environment in general, and
eventually building green belts in river catchment areas where
human activities are concentrated, and along major highways. The
results have been remarkable. According to a survey, over the past
50-plus years some 70,000 ha of land have been afforested in Tibet,
90 million trees have been planted beside villages, houses, roads
and waterways, and 1.5 million cash trees have been grown.
Afforestation and ecological projects have been launched steadily.
Implementation of the key projects, such as the afforestation
project in Lhasa and its outskirts, the construction of the
shelter-forest system of the Yarlungzangbo River, the pilot project
of the Yangtze River shelter-forest system in Markam and the pilot
project for controlling sand by afforestation in Xigaze, has, to a
great extent, improved the natural eco-environment of those
localities. Since 1996, the State has begun to build a
shelter-forest system along the upper and middle reaches of the
Yangtze River. By 2000, it had invested more than 3.7 million yuan
in the project, actively supporting Tibet in building man-made
forests and sealing off mountainous areas to facilitate
afforestation as appropriate to local conditions. The afforested
area has topped 13,000 ha, which, as a result, has played a
positive role in improving local residents' working and living
conditions. Following implementation of the project for the
construction of the shelter-forest system of the Yarlungzangbo
River, which is part of the key "three rivers" agricultural
development undertaking, a man-made forest belt measuring several
hundred km from Xigaze to Zetang on the upper reaches of the
Yarlungzangbo River has been formed. Now, a new spectacular scene,
the belt plays a positive role in conserving water and topsoil
along the Yarlungzangbo River.
Due to the effective protection of natural forest resources and
afforestation, the forest coverage in Tibet has kept growing. It
has grown from less than 1% in the 1950s to 5.93% today, and has
played a positive role in improving the Autonomous Region's
ecological environment. According to reports from relevant
monitoring departments, due to the increase in man-made vegetation,
the number of sandstorm days has decreased noticeably in Tibet.
Currently, it is 32 days fewer in Lhasa, 34 days fewer in Xigaze
and 32 days fewer in Zetang, than 30 years ago.
- Comprehensive control of soil erosion has brought noticeable
achievements. The Tibet Plateau belongs to the alpine cold
meadow and steppe landscape, which is characterized by poor water
and soil conservation and vulnerability to serious soil erosion.
Over the past 50 years, soil erosion has been effectively
controlled by afforestation and construction of water conservancy
projects. In recent years in particular, the State and the Tibet
Autonomous Region have increased their investment in soil erosion
control, which has yielded highly desirable results. By the end of
2001, the State had invested more than 36.8 million yuan in Tibet,
built 53,000 ha of forests to conserve water and topsoil, grown
grass on 67,000 ha, harnessed soil erosion on 1,166 sq km, and
launched a comprehensive control project in the Radoigou small
catchment area in Quxu County, Lhasa, and implemented comprehensive
control projects for conserving water and topsoil in Gyangze and
Nyemo counties. Simultaneously, the Tibet Autonomous Region has
formulated the "Plan for Conservation of Water and Topsoil in
Tibet" and several other plans in respect of water and soil
conservation and soil erosion control, promulgated the "Measures of
Administration for Water and Soil Conservation Projects in the
Tibet Autonomous Region," and made prevention, supervision and
protection the top priority of the water and soil conservation
work, in order to prevent new soil erosion caused by human
activities. To enable the comprehensive control of soil erosion to
be carried out in a more scientific way, the Tibet Autonomous
Region launched, in 2001, the construction of a water and soil
conservation monitoring network with an investment of more than 60
million yuan to provide overall monitoring for soil erosion across
Tibet.
- Achievements have been made in desertification prevention
and control. Sandstorms have afflicted Tibet throughout its
history. Now, as a result of the expansion of the hole in the ozone
layer caused by global warming, Tibet has been facing problems of
rising snowlines, dried-up lakes, and deteriorated grassland in
recent years. In some areas in Tibet, pastureland has suffered a
natural deterioration, and some of it has been reduced to sand and
stone. To control pastureland deterioration and desertification,
Tibet has begun to improve the environment of its rivers, with the
emphasis on improving small river valleys and the desertification
of deteriorated pastureland. With the goal of establishing a
relatively good ecological system of forestry and grassland, Tibet
has adopted measures consisting of afforestation, aerial sowing and
closing off hillsides to facilitate afforestation. It has planted
trees, bushes and grass on a large scale near rivers and in areas
that have been hit most seriously by pastureland deterioration and
desertification. Projects to protect the natural forests and
wetlands, and to reconvert farmland into forest or pasture have
been carried out on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. In
2002, the goal was to reconvert some 13,000 ha of farmland into
forest. The Central Government provided 10 million yuan as subsidy
for seedlings, and 15 million kg of grain and two million yuan as
allowance for families of farmers and herdsmen whose farmland had
been restored to forest. Trees were planted in the vicinity of
Lhasa, and in important agricultural areas forest shelter belts
were built around the fields to reduce soil erosion by sand. These
measures have brought the ever-expanding desertification threat
under control.
- Great progress has been made in protection of
biodiversity. Tibet is one of the most typically biodiverse
regions in the world. It is an important gene pool for the
biodiversity of the globe. At present, there are over 9,600 wild
plants in Tibet, 39 of which are listed in the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
and are under special State protection as rare and endangered
species. There are 798 species of vertebrates and nearly 4,000
species of insects in Tibet, 125 of which are under special State
protection, accounting for more than one third of the wild animals
under special State protection. Approximately 600 species of higher
plants and more than 200 species of terrestrial vertebrates are
endemic to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
Over the past 50-plus years, the Central Government and the Tibetan
local government have conducted extensive surveys on Tibet's
biological resources. They have worked out scientific plans and
programs for the protection of wild animals and plants. They have
also adopted a sequence of measures for effective protection of the
rare and endangered species. In accordance with the relevant State
laws and regulations, the Tibet Autonomous Region has established
forest law enforcement organs and the Tibet Armed Police Forestry
Contingent. They have conducted the "Hohxil Action Number One" and
other special campaigns in the border areas of Qinghai, Xinjiang
and Tibet to protect the Tibetan antelope and other rare animals.
These campaigns have dealt a heavy blow to poachers and curbed
law-violation activities that have done damage to wild animal
resources. Meanwhile, the State has invested millions of yuan each
year in infrastructure facilities for forest security and forest
fire prevention in Tibet. In 2002, the State set aside 3.66 million
yuan from its national debt revenue for a special project aimed at
cracking down on poachers of Tibetan antelopes. It has also
strengthened publicity on the protection of wild animals. Now
people in Tibet are highly conscious of the importance of
protecting wild animals, and the once rampant hunting of Tibetan
antelopes has been brought under control.
Over the past 50 years or more, not one species in Tibet has
suffered extinction. Biodiversity is effectively maintained, and
biological types are continuously enriched. Red deer, generally
considered by the international animal research community to have
vanished in the 20th century, were discovered again in Tibet in the
1990s, and their numbers are increasing. As Tibet opens wider to
the outside world, non-native creatures such as carp, crucian carp,
eel and loach, high-productivity and quality cattle, sheep, pigs,
chicken, ducks, as well as corn, watermelons and vegetables have
been introduced from the inland areas to Tibet, where they are
thriving today.
- Great achievements have been made in the establishment of
nature reserves. Establishing nature reserves is an important
method used by Tibet to strengthen ecological improvement and
environmental protection work and implement the strategy of
sustainable development. Since the 1980s, Tibet has established
more than 70 nature reserves of different types. Of these, three
are on the national level (four more national-level nature reserves
are being planned) and 15 are on the autonomous region (provincial)
level. The total area of the 18 nature reserves is 401,000 sq km,
accounting for 33.4% of the land area of Tibet and 30.8% of the
total area of China's nature reserves. In addition, prefectures and
prefecture-level cities in Tibet have established over 50 nature
reserves of the corresponding level. A rationally distributed
nature protection network of different types is basically in place.
In light of the general program and requirements of the State, the
People's Government of the Tibet Autonomous Region is carrying out
the "Development Plan for Nature Reserves in the Tibet Autonomous
Region for 1996-2010." It is expected that 28 new nature reserves
at or above the autonomous region level will be established before
2010. By then, all types of nature reserves other than sea and
seashore ecosystem ones will be found in Tibet.
In
order to restore the natural ecosystem, human activities such as
economic development are strictly limited in the established nature
reserves. As a result, the ecological environment in most of the
nature reserves has become stable and the prospects are quite good.
Breeding grounds, habitats and important ecosystems for rare and
endangered species, important wetlands for migratory birds, as well
as the natural landscapes, geological sites and biological sites of
scientific importance are now well protected. All the 125 wild
animals, 39 wild plants and typical geological features in Tibet
that are on the State protection list are well preserved in the
established nature reserves. The Tibet Autonomous Region has more
than six million ha of wetland, accounting for about 4.9% of
Tibet's total land area and ranking first in China. Its alpine
wetlands are unique in the world. According to monitoring by the
relevant departments, the number of both wild animals and plants in
the nature reserves is obviously increasing, and the total reserves
of wild animal resources have increased by upwards of 30%. Rare
animals that had not been seen for many years have returned to
their habitats. In the Changtang Nature Reserve, monitoring in the
past few years has revealed that the numbers of wild animals such
as Tibetan wild donkey, argali and antelope have increased to
differing degrees. The number of Tibetan antelopes has reached
40,000 to 50,000 in the Nyima central reserve. After a nature
reserve for black-necked cranes was established on the middle
reaches of the Yarlungzangbo River, the number of black-necked
cranes wintering there has increased each year, accounting for
about 80% of the earth's total number of black-necked cranes.
III. Ecological Improvement and Environmental
Protection amid Economic Development
The ecosystem in Tibet is extremely fragile, and the ability to
resist disturbance and regenerate is weak. Once the ecosystem is
damaged, it is hard to restore it for a long period of time. For
more than 50 years Tibet has adhered to the strategy of sustainable
development, ensuring the close combination and coordinated
development of ecological improvement, environmental protection and
economic construction. While the economy develops rapidly and the
people's living standards are constantly rising, the ecological
environment is being effectively protected. In accordance with the
latest monitoring findings, the environment of water and the
atmosphere in Tibet are basically unpolluted. The average annual
concentration of suspended particles in the atmosphere of Tibet's
cities is between 193 and 268 per cu m. No major environmental
pollution accident has occurred in Tibet, and most of its major
rivers and lakes are in a primordial state.
- Environmental protection and ecological improvement are
synchronized with agricultural production and development. In
Tibet, the natural conditions for agriculture are poor,
infrastructure is weak, grain productivity is low and the
capability to withstand natural disasters is low. Therefore, it is
necessary to strengthen agricultural infrastructure construction,
transform low- and medium-yield fields and improve the level of the
agricultural ecosystem for agricultural production and development.
With this aim in mind, the government of the Tibet Autonomous
Region has endeavored to raise grain yield by improving the
eco-environment for agricultural development. The government is
helping farmers change their traditional cultivation habits of
letting land lie idle after harvest a centuries-old practice known
as "white fallow," which is detrimental to water and soil
conservation. Rotation of grain and grass is adopted to increase
the fertility of the soil and its ability to conserve water. While
attention is paid to farmland water conservancy construction, a
forest shelter network is being built to protect farmland from
being eroded by sandstorms. As a result of persistent efforts, the
rate of land usage in the major agricultural producers in central
Tibet has increased greatly, and the level of soil erosion has
declined markedly. Natural conditions like water and heat, which
are fundamental to the growth of farm produce, have been improved.
In 2000, surveys by experts found that the comprehensive
eco-environment appraisal index of this area has gone up by 1.5
percentage points from 10 years ago. The improvement of the
ecological environment has steadily increased agricultural
productivity. By 2001, agriculture in Tibet had had bumper harvests
for 14 years in a row. The total grain output had reached 982,500
tons, enough to make Tibet basically self-sufficient.
The State has invested a large sum of money on a series of
comprehensive agricultural development projects in Tibet. It is
making sure that while land areas are expanded, the ecological
environment is improved at the same time. In the major construction
projects, such as the comprehensive agricultural development
project on the middle reaches of the "three rivers" with an
investment of 1.2 billion yuan from the Central Government,
environmental protection and ecological improvement are made key
parts of the projects. Monitoring of the ecological environment in
comprehensive agricultural development in the "three rivers" area
in the past 10 years indicates that, due to an organic combination
of biological and engineering measures, both the types and rate of
land utilization and the acreage of man-made vegetation in the area
have increased markedly. Desertification and soil erosion have been
effectively checked, and the comprehensive index of the
eco-environment quality has been raised by one to three grades.
Comprehensive agricultural development has not only reaped
significant economic benefits, but also resulted in good social and
ecological benefits.
- Industrial projects are selected carefully, and pollution
prevention and control are strengthened. Industry was not
developed at all in Tibet until after the region's peaceful
liberation. Even today, there are few industrial enterprises in
Tibet, and so industrial pollution is not much of a problem. In
order to reduce the bad effects caused to the ecological
environment by industrial development, the government of the Tibet
Autonomous Region has adhered to the principle of placing equal
emphasis on both industrial development and environmental
protection. As industries are developed in the region, Tibet has
made every effort to ensure that while they bring about economic
profits they have social and environmental benefits as well. No
industrial project is to be launched just because of its envisaged
economic benefit or just because it will fill a gap in the field.
To effectively combat pollution, the government has adopted a
series of pollution-prevention measures to ensure that the
development of modern industry does not damage the ecological
environment. First, industrial pollution is dealt with through
industrial restructuring, product-mix adjustment and technological
transformation. For instance, the Lhasa Leather Factory has
imported environmental-protection facilities along with advanced
technologies and equipment from Germany. The Lhasa Brewery, which
used to be a big polluter, has spent more than four million yuan on
equipment to treat industrial sewage as part of its technological
transformation efforts. As a result, its sewage discharge has met
the specified standard. Second, supervision and management of the
environment has been tightened. Rectification has been carried out
in respect of enterprises that fail to meet the requirements for
pollutant discharge. In accordance with the guiding principle of
"opening big enterprises and shutting down small ones" for
industrial restructuring, six vertical-kiln cement production lines
in Lhasa proper, which used to be serious polluters, have been shut
down. Enterprises causing serious pollution are barred from
production, and outdated technologies and equipment prohibited by
the State have been winnowed out.
- Strengthening evaluation and management of the impact of
resources development and major infrastructure construction
projects on the ecological environment. A policy is implemented
ensuring that no new construction, reconstruction and expansion
projects shall be authorized unless an evaluation of their impact
on the environment has been conducted. This policy and the system
of the "three simultaneouses" (pollution prevention facilities are
designed, built and commissioned simultaneously with the main
project) are strictly enforced. More than 80% of medium-sized and
large construction projects have gone through evaluation of their
impact on the ecological environment. The Norbusa and Shangkasam
chromite mining projects include eco-environmental protection as a
key task in resources development. With respect to the hydropower
station at Yamzhoyumco Lake, which has attracted the attention of
the world, full consideration was given to the protection of the
ecological environment, starting from the decision to build the
station to its design and construction. Since this hydropower
station was put into operation, electricity generation has not
caused the water level in the lake to drop, which would have harmed
the natural eco-environment of the lake.
- Much attention has been paid to the comprehensive treatment
of the ecological environment in urban areas in order to improve
people's living environment in areas with dense population.?The
comprehensive management of the ecological environment in cities
and towns has always been stressed in ecological improvement and
environmental protection work in Tibet. To guarantee the quality of
the atmospheric environment, Tibet is actively popularizing the use
of non-polluting energy sources in cities and towns, and phasing
out fuels such as faggot, ox dung, coal and oil currently being
commonly used by local residents. It encourages people to adopt
natural gas as fuel for daily use. By 2001, the number of liquefied
petroleum gas users in Lhasa and Xigaze had increased to 44,600
households, accounting for 83% of their combined total. At the same
time, Tibet is actively using clean energy sources like water,
geothermal, solar and wind energies. A pattern featuring water
energy as the main energy source complemented by other types of
energies has initially been formed, and has been a great help to
the protection of the ecological environment. The amount of solar
energy used in Tibet each year is equivalent to that provided by
130,000 tons of standard coal. In Lhasa and Xigaze, 1,693.6 ha of
land are covered by trees or grass, and 47.48 ha are public green
areas. The rate of green coverage in established districts is
23.5%. Construction of plumbing and treatment of sewage have been
pushed ahead in urban areas, and 679,460 m of water supply pipes
and 392,770 m of sewage pipes have been laid. The government has
invested 51.2794 million yuan in building Lhasa's garbage disposal
plants, and garbage disposal facilities for other cities are being
actively planned.
- Devoting major efforts to the development of tourism and
other specialty industries that are beneficial to the protection of
the ecological environment. Developing specialty industries
with relatively little impact on the ecological environment has
always been an important policy in accelerating the economic
development of Tibet. With its unique natural geographical and
cultural environments, Tibet enjoys a nature-endowed advantage in
developing tourism and other tertiary industries. In 1996, the
People's Government of the Tibet Autonomous Region adopted the
"Decision on Speeding Up the Development of Tourism," and put
tourism one of the Autonomous Region's pillar industries in a
prominent place and develop it vigorously. In 2001, Tibet played
host to 686,100 domestic and foreign tourists, its earnings from
tourism totaling 750 million yuan and its earning of foreign
exchange reaching 46.38 million US dollars. Some 6,506 people are
directly involved in the tourist industry, while more than 30,000
people are indirectly involved. The status of tourism in Tibet's
economy is rising. Although tourism pollutes the environment to
only a very small extent, the local government has paid much
attention to problems arising from the damage to the ecosystem and
from environmental pollution in the development of tourism. Tourism
and environmental protection departments are actively taking
measures to collect, classify and dispose of garbage left in scenic
spots to prevent pollution of the eco-environment. Garbage bins
have even been set up at the harsh Mt. Qomolangma mountaineering
headquarters. Garbage left by climbers and tourists is collected,
removed and disposed of periodically.
IV.?Building an Ecology-Friendly Railway Line
the Qinghai-Tibet Railway
There was no highway in Tibet before its peaceful liberation.
Economic and social contacts in Tibet and its contacts with the
outside world depended solely on human power and draft animals, as
well as post roads. Now, a transportation network consisting of
24,000 km of highways, a dozen air routes and more than 1,000 km of
pipelines has been completed. Still, Tibet remains the only
autonomous region (province) in China inaccessible by rail.
Transportation has long been a bottleneck holding back the economic
and social development of Tibet and hindering the improvement of
the people's living standards. Building the Qinghai-Tibet Railway
has been the long-cherished wish of people of all ethnic groups in
Tibet. It is not only essential for strengthening links between
Tibet and the hinterland, accelerating the economic and social
development of Tibet and improving the local people's material and
cultural well-being, but is also of great significance for
enhancing ethnic unity and common prosperity.
On
June 29, 2001, with the approval of the Central Government,
construction of the section between Golmud and Lhasa began as part
of the second phase of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway project. This
railway line will be 1,142 km long, and will involve an investment
of 26.21 billion yuan. It will take six years to complete. Making
the Qinghai-Tibet Railway an ecology-friendly railway line was the
goal set at the time the project was appraised.
- During the initial research period, an appraisal of the
impact of the railway line on the environment was carefully
conducted. In the initial period of the project, relevant
departments chose several aspects that would affect the ecological
environment, and conducted intensive research. On the basis of this
research and with arrangement by the Chinese government,
specialists from various fields carried out in-depth on-the-spot
investigations, and conducted a sound scientific appraisal of the
impact of the railway building on Tibet's ecology and environment
in light of the requirements of the environmental protection, water
and soil conservation, and wild animals protection laws, and those
of the "National Plan for Eco-environmental Improvement," and the
"National Program for Eco-environmental Protection." They compiled
a report and some other documents, offering their appraisals of the
environmental impacts, together with proposals for protection of
the ecological environment. In light of the requirements of the
appraisal, a guideline for the construction of the project was
worked out, i.e., "giving priority to prevention and protection and
attaching equal importance to both development and protection." The
result of the appraisal of the ecological environment was used to
guide the designing and construction of the railway line and its
environmental management. Some 1.2 billion yuan will be spent on
environmental protection facilities for the Qinghai-Tibet Railway,
a record sum in this aspect for rail construction in China.
- At the design stage of this railway line, protection of the
ecological environment was the deciding factor in the plan for the
project. Protection of the ecological environment has been an
essential concern in the design of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. The
routes were selected so that they would keep away from the major
habitats of wild animals. The original design of the railway would
have it passing through the black-necked crane nature reserve on
the middle reaches of the Yarlungzangbo River. After many
discussions, the designers decided to select a circuitous route via
Yangbajain, to avoid disturbing the birds. But if avoidance was
impossible, such as the section cutting through the Hohxil, Qumar
and Soga nature reserves, the planners would compare several
designs, and put forward protection measures to minimize
disturbance to the nature reserves. Based on the investigations and
studies of the habits and migration patterns of the wildlife along
the railway line, the planners established 25 passageways for wild
creatures at different sections of the line. In designing bridges
and tunnels, the designers gave full consideration to the needs of
wildlife crossing the railway line. At many spots, special bridges
were planned to provide passageways for migrating wildlife so that
the normal life of these animals would be guaranteed as far as
possible. Hohxil is one of the habitats of the Tibetan antelope,
which faces the danger of extinction and is under the State's
first-grade protection. In June and July each year, they form
groups and travel long distances to Zhoine and Taiyang lakes to
breed. The builders of the railway line stopped work for four days,
withdrew workers and equipment from the construction site and
removed the colored flags that would alert and frighten the Tibetan
antelopes. The animals eventually passed through the construction
site without being disturbed. To prevent damage to grasslands and
wetlands, the planners designed many special bridges. The total
length of bridges built for this railway line in Tibet alone would
reach 13 km.
When completed, the stations along the Qinghai-Tibet Railway will
use environment-friendly energy sources such as electricity, solar
energy and wind energy for heating. Garbage at the stations will be
collected for batch treatment. Domestic sewage, after being treated
to meet the State's discharge standard, will be used, whenever
possible, to water green spaces. The passenger cars will be sealed.
Garbage on the trains will be collected in plastic bags which will
be handed over to stations along the plateau for batch treatment.
To suit the characteristics of the plateau, the central station
management mode will be adopted, with seven central stations
established along the line. Each of these stations will be totally
responsible for the trains' running and maintenance in an area
within a radius of 80 km. Wherever possible, remote automatic
control and mechanized maintenance will be adopted to reduce the
number of both the organizations and their staff on the plateau,
thereby giving maximum protection to the natural eco-environment of
the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
- Reducing the adverse impact of the railway construction on
the ecological environment to the minimum. To achieve this
goal, all the construction units have signed a responsibility
pledge for eco-environmental protection with the Qinghai-Tibet
Railway Construction Planning Office. The Office also requires all
construction units to formulate or improve rules and regulations
for protecting the ecological environment, and establish
environmental protection sections run by full-time or part-time
administrators. It is also imperative for the construction units to
take specific scientific measures to protect the ecological
environment; and their construction plans must meet the
requirements for environmental protection. Competent governmental
administration departments of land, environmental protection and
water conservancy and relevant units responsible for design,
supervision and construction must work together to decide on the
sites for taking and discharging dirt and placing building
materials such as sand and stone. They should determine, according
to the availability of sunlight and hardness of ice, the
appropriate distance between those sites and the railway roadbeds,
as well as the traffic routes for workers and vehicles.
Construction and relevant activities should be done within the
designated areas to keep the permafrost stable. The headwaters and
wetlands along the railway line are to be specially protected to
avoid desertification in the headwaters areas, shrinkage of
wetlands, deterioration of grasslands and water pollution that
might be caused by the construction. Attention is to be paid to the
protection and regeneration of ground vegetation. In places
difficult for plants to grow and on the construction sites and
transportation routes, the turf should be preserved and replanted
in other places section by section, to be moved back to cover the
slopes of the roadbeds and construction sites, so as to minimize
the loss of ground vegetation. Where natural conditions are
relatively good, grass seeds suitable for plateau areas should be
carefully selected and planted with appropriate means of
cultivation to restore as much as possible the ground vegetation
that existed before the railway construction. Where the natural
conditions are good enough, turf to be cultivated by manpower
should be tried out, supported by the techniques of spray sowing
and plastic film mulching. In the Tuotuo River area, where the
Yangtze River originates, test-planting of grass on plateau
roadbeds has been successful in the first stage. The railway
builders will take all measures to meet the environmental
requirements of the railway construction.
A
key point in building the Qinghai-Tibet Railway is to protect the
ecological environment along the railway line. All units involved
in the construction are making great efforts in this respect. The
China Railway No. 14 Engineering Bureau, for instance, has 13 key
technical problems now undergoing scientific research, of which
half concern environmental protection. There are six supervisors in
this bureau who are in charge of eco-environmental protection on
the railway construction sites. They are responsible for ensuring
that the camp sites, work-site access roads and passageways,
quarries, and sites for supplying dirt and digging trenches take up
as little space as possible. They are also responsible for
supervising accommodation facilities to ensure that the delicate
plateau vegetation is properly protected.
- Taking effective measures to minimize the pollution that the
railway construction might cause to the plateau's ecological
environment. To achieve this goal, the construction units have
tried to use high-efficiency, low-noise and low-pollution
equipment. They have tried to adopt more mechanized ways of
construction and use as few administrators and workers as possible
on the work sites. Whenever possible, prefabricated concrete
components are carried to the construction sites and assembled
there. In order to avoid the pollution caused by slurry around
bridge-building sites, they use dry-boring by rotary drills where
possible. The Office requires that all waste water from
construction and camp sites be processed to meet the corresponding
sewage treatment standard before discharge. Solid waste from
construction sites and trash from camp sites must be sorted out and
recycled whenever possible. Waste and trash that cannot be degraded
should be moved to appropriate places for batch treatment.
- Strengthening supervision and inspection of environmental
protection to meet the protection requirements. An
environmental protection supervision system for a whole railway
line was first adopted for the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. The Office
entrusted a third party to supervise the environmental protection
work all along the line during the whole period of the railway
construction. To strengthen such supervision and inspection work,
the State Environmental Protection Administration and the Ministry
of Railways jointly issued the "Notification on Strengthening the
Supervision and Management of the Eco-environment in the Building
of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway," setting out specific requirements
for the environmental protection and supervision work during the
construction period. The State Environmental Protection
Administration, the Ministry of Railways and other government
departments concerned have repeatedly sent inspection groups to
supervise the implementation of these environmental protection
measures. Any violation of the environmental protection regulations
is severely punished.
With the concerted efforts of all concerned it is justifiable to
believe that the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, as a plateau railway up to
the environmental protection standard, will truly benefit the
people of all ethnic groups in Tibet.
V. The Strategic Choice for Sustainable
Development
For the past 50 years or so, benefiting from the concern of the
Central Government and support from the whole nation, people of all
ethnic groups in Tibet have pulled their full weight to give an
earth-shaking new look to Tibet, and have made achievements in
ecological improvement and environmental protection that have
attracted attention worldwide. Tibetan people today live and work
in peace not only with a booming economy and developing society,
but also with their landscape kept beautiful, their rivers kept
clean, their animal species kept diversified, and their vegetation
kept lush. Tibet has truly become a "Shangri-la."
Rapidly shaking off its traditional backwardness and quickening its
steps toward modernization are the natural requirements for the
progress and development of Tibetan society and the fervent wish of
all the ethnic groups in Tibet. Located on the Qinghai-Tibet
Plateau, Tibet has a peculiar geographical environment and a
fragile ecosystem. Therefore, it is an important part of Tibet's
progress to modernization and a strategic choice for sustainable
development that Tibet should protect the regenerative capacity of
its natural resources, improve the quality of its ecological
environment, preserve the integrity and self-adjustment ability of
its natural ecosystem, and ensure the safety of the ecosystem and
the harmonious unity and coordinated development of Tibet's
economy, society and ecosystem.
Ecological improvement and environmental protection in Tibet cannot
be achieved if development steps falter, but nor should we attain
short-term economic development at the cost of the ecological
environment. We can only follow the law of social development,
attach equal importance to both economic development and
eco-environmental protection, giving attention to protection in the
process of development and seeking development in the process of
protection, and implement the strategy of sustainable development.
Ecological improvement and environmental protection should be done
in an active, thrusting and dynamic manner, and not in a passive,
conservative and closed-door way. We cannot refuse any interaction
between man and natural eco-environment on the excuse of preserving
the fragile primitive natural state, because this will hamper the
economic and social development and the improvement of people's
living standard in Tibet.
The relationship between the exploration and utilization of natural
resources and eco-environmental protection must be handled properly
in the course of the modernization of Tibet, so as to promote
changes in the mode of economic growth. It is clear from past
experience in Tibet that the exploration and utilization of natural
resources must follow the laws of nature, taking both long-term and
overall interests into consideration, so as to avoid being too
eager for quick success and instant benefits to the extent of
over-burdening the ecological environment. A scientific attitude
and methodology must be adopted in exploring natural resources and
protecting the ecological environment. Natural resources that are
not to be explored and used should be strictly protected, while the
exploration and utilization of needed resources should be done
scientifically with a definite goal, to prevent any unwanted impact
on the ecological functions. Only in this way can the natural
resources in Tibet be utilized rationally and scientifically, and
can economic development and eco-environmental improvement be
achieved simultaneously.
Tibet's ecological improvement and environmental protection, just
as its economic and social development, have a vital bearing not
only on the fundamental interests of the people of all ethnic
groups in Tibet but also on the common interests of the whole
nation. People of all ethnic groups in Tibet are the major
motivators and direct participants in the ecological improvement
and environmental protection work in Tibet. They are also the main
beneficiaries of a well-preserved ecological environment. Carrying
forward such work will benefit both the State and the people for
generations to come. Starting from the fundamental interests of the
Tibetan people and the fundamental demand of the people of all
ethnic groups across China for common prosperity, over the past
five decades and more the Chinese Central Government and the local
government of Tibet, in a spirit of being highly responsible for
posterity and the world as a whole, have made tremendous efforts to
promote and develop the ecological improvement and environmental
protection work in Tibet, and have made achievements that have
captured worldwide attention.
The Dalai clique and the international anti-China forces shut their
eyes to the progress in the ecological improvement and
environmental protection work in Tibet. They have spread rumors all
over the world that the Chinese government is "destroying Tibet's
ecological environment," "plundering Tibet's natural resources" and
"depriving the Tibetan people of their right to subsistence," and
so on and so forth, in order to mislead world public opinion and
deface the image of China. Camouflaging themselves with pretensions
of concern about eco-environmental protection in Tibet, they want
really nothing but to hamper the social progress and modernization
of Tibet and to prepare public opinion for their political aim of
restoring the backward feudal serfdom in Tibet and splitting the
Chinese nation.
It
is true that there are still many problems in Tibet's ecological
improvement and environmental protection efforts. As the whole
global ecosystem is deteriorating, the fragile ecology in Tibet is
particularly affected. Mud-rock flows, landslides, soil erosion,
snowstorms and other natural calamities occur frequently in Tibet
and desertification is threatening the region's eco-environment,
compounded by man-made damage to the ecological environment as
Tibet's economy develops. All these things have attracted much
attention from the Central Government and the local government of
Tibet. In order to ensure the permanent stability of the ecological
environment and natural resources and to guard against possible new
threats to them, the Tibetan local government, supported by the
Central Government, has set up and put into practice since 2001 a
mammoth plan for ecological improvement and environmental
protection. From now until the mid-21st century, more than 22
billion yuan will be invested in over 160 eco-environmental
protection projects aimed at steadily improving the ecosystem in
Tibet. There is no doubt that the people in Tibet will create an
even more beautiful environment and an even better life for
themselves in the course of their future development.
(China.org.cn March 10, 2003)
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