Ecology significantly improved in Sanjiangyuan
A group of Tibetan wild donkeys gallop across the Hoh Xil Nature Reserve, Dec 2, 2016. The Sanjiangyuan area, which is in the southern part of China's Qinghai province, is home to the headwaters of the Yangtze, Yellow, and Lancang (Mekong) rivers. With a fragile ecosystem, Sanjiangyuan is dubbed "Asia's water tower."[Photo/Xinhua]
But after years of efforts being made to improve the ecological conditions of this area, the situation has been significantly enhanced. Wild animals are thriving, the number of endangered animals, such as the Tibetan antelope and snow leopard, has grown considerably - among which the population of Tibetan antelopes has gone from 40,000 to almost 200,000 on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The forest coverage rate increased from 3.2 percent in 2004 to 4.8 percent in 2012, and is expected to reach 5.5 percent by 2020. China established the Sanjiangyuan Nature Reserve in 2000. Five years later, a 7.6-billion-yuan ($1.1 billion) conservation project was launched in the region. In January 2014, a second-phase conservation project (2014-2020) began with 16 billion yuan in financial backing. The latest plan to help better protect the biological conditions in this region is to make the area into a 123,100 square-kilometer national park in five years. |