Four nature reserves join alliance protecting Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

People who are interested in Tibet travel or have ever been there must know the wonderful but weak environment in Tibet. Covering 550,000 square kilometers in western China, four major nature reserves have jointly announced Tuesday an alliance to protect the environment of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau at an annual conference held in Tibet autonomous region.

Officials from the four national nature reserves -- Tibetan Chiangtang Nature Reserve, Qinghai Hoh Xil Nature Reserve, Qinghai Sanjiangyuan (Source of Three Rivers) Nature Reserve and Xinjiang Altun Mountain Nature Reserve -- signed an agreement to set up an alliance administration to coordinate affairs among the four reserves at the third conference on environmental protection jointly held by the four reserves from Aug. 6 to 14 in Ali prefecture of Tibet.
 

With an average altitude of 4,000 meters, the four reserves cover 58.3 percent of China's national nature reserve areas and, together, they can be considered to be the world's largest nature reserve group. With a fragile environment, the areas are the habitat of many of China's unique animals, such as Tibetan antelopes, wild yaks and Tibetan wild asses, among others, and they are the key to China's national ecological security.

"The four national nature reserves share similar natural resources, wild animals, management methods, as well as similar difficulties and constraints, which demands that the four unite for resource optimization, talent cultivation and information sharing," said Samphel Wangyel, deputy director of the protection division of Tibet's regional forestry department.
 

Lacking infrastructure, employees and high-tech facilities, the four nature reserves held the first joint conference in Xining, capital of Qinghai province, in 2010 to initiate joint efforts and communication in many fields, including science, technology, management and publications.
 

"We have learned a lot about volunteer work and management experiences from the Hoh Xil reserve administration in the past two years, which improved our work in many aspects," said Zhang Huibin, deputy director of the Xinjiang Altun Mountain National Nature Reserve Administration.
 

Based on previous work, administrative officials from the four nature reserves plan to set up a joint wild animal database to share information and reinforce daily communications at the third conference.
 

The database will greatly help those studying the living habits and migration paths of wild animals, Samphel Wangyel said.

The information platform will also set up a reporting system to crack down on poaching as well as keep tourists from disrupting the wild animals, said Karma Tsedrup, deputy director of the Chiangtang National Nature Reserve Administration.
 

The joint anti-poaching campaign was launched in 2011 to protect wild animals like Tibetan antelopes and will be held annually by the four reserve administrations.