Tibet sets up trial water resources eco compensation mechanism

Tibet is going to annually invest 20 million yuan as the compensation fund in protecting the water resources,Xinhua News Agency reported.
 
The Water Conservancy Department of Tibet released that the Riwoche County of east Tibet's Chamdo Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture,the Nagqu County of Nagqu Prefecture,the Dinggyê County of Shigatse Prefecture have already launched the reward mechanism.
 
The regional government has delimited the areas implemented the eco-compensation,based on the National Major Functional Division,the 12th Five-year Plan on National Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction and the Master Plan on National Water Resources Development(2011-2015),which includes the source of the major rivers and lakes,the protected areas on urban water supply,the rich areas on water resource,the plateau inland river areas and the international river zones,covering the conservational areas in Sichuan Province,Tibet and Yunnan Province alongside the Jinsha River,the Lantsang River preservation zone in the Mangkam County,Chamdo Prefecture, the protected areas of the Yarlung Zangbo River,the Yarlung Zangbo Lake and the Namtso Lake.
 
The eco-compensation will mainly benefit the local governments at all levels and the farmers and herdsmen across the region，the major parties concerned to protect the water resources.
 
Each year,the prefectural government will review the implementation of the local water resources protection,upon which  appropriate funding in the next year once approved.
 
Tibet has crucial water resources for China with an annual water resources of over 430 billion cubic meters. There are 28 rivers with a drainage area of 10,000 square kilometers or even above, a lake area totaling 28,900 square kilometers(excluding the overseas areas of the cross border lakes), accounting for 37 percent of the total in China,and a vast glacier area covering 27,000 square kilometers, which accounts for 47 percent of the glaciers across the county in Tibet.
 
The Fifth Conference on the Work of Tibet has determined that Tibet played a key role in ecological security of China. But it is hard to recover once being damaged due to the fragile local ecological environment.
 
Tibet will establish the Awarding Plan on Water Resources Protection Eco-compensation before June,2014, which would be listed into the plan of the 13th Five-Year Plan.
 
Recently,Tibet has carried out the eco-compensation on forests and the grassland, bringing benefit to the local governments of all levels as well as the farmers and herdsmen, which will promote the implementation of the water resources eco-compensation.