SHI YU/CHINA DAILY

Protection efforts, national parks lure wildlife back to western province

A wide-ranging drive to bolster biodiversity protection through the establishment of national parks and natural reserves in Qinghai province has brought back herds of wildlife and led the way for broader conservation efforts across the nation, officials and experts said.

The western province — home to China's largest lake and the source of Asia's three longest rivers — has spearheaded a national drive for the establishment of national parks, with over 39 percent of the region now placed under state protection.

With strict policies on ecological conservation being put in place, Qinghai, which has one national park and two others that are being developed, has seen a steady recovery of its endangered species.

The population of Tibetan antelopes has recovered from fewer than 30,000 to over 70,000, and that of Przewalski's gazelle, found in the wild only in China, has been restored to over 2,700 from about 300, according to the provincial forestry and grassland administration. The population of snow leopards has also seen gradual recovery in recent years.

Meanwhile, Qinghai is also developing a national park in the basin of the Qinghai Lake — China's largest lake — and another in the Qilian Mountains.

The establishment of the three national parks in Qinghai is part of a national plan released in December to develop 49 such parks across the nation, accounting for about 10 percent of the country's land area. Of the 49 parks, 13 will be located in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, accounting for 70 percent of the total area of the national park candidates.

The State Council, China's Cabinet, said in a policy statement in November that the 49 parks will include regions with "unique natural landscapes, the most important natural ecosystems, the most essential natural heritages, and the most biodiverse areas".

Wang Enguang, an official with the Qinghai Forestry and Grassland Administration, said the province has been a trailblazer of innovative practices to lead the nation in ecological conservation, including adding related jobs and coordinating protection measures in urban and rural areas.

The nation started piloting the development of the Three-River-Source National Park, which contains the headwaters of China's three major rivers — the Yangtze, Yellow and Lancang — after a plan for the park was issued by the central government in 2016.

The national park, also known as Sanjiangyuan, received official designation as one of the first five in China in October 2021, becoming the world's highest and largest national park with an expanse of 190,700 square kilometers.

"The primary function of national parks is to ensure the authenticity and integrity of natural ecosystems," Wang said.

Protecting areas

Efforts to protect the Sanjiangyuan area started in 2003 after China launched a national natural reserve in the region, with the nation investing 24.4 billion yuan between 2005 and 2020 for two phases of ecological protection and restoration efforts.

To boost the protection of the Qinghai Lake, a key habitat for migratory birds, the province launched a bid to begin developing the wetland into a national park in April 2022, drawing up plans for ecological conservation, the protection of the aquatic environment and the restoration of ecosystems, including wetlands.

Wang Xiangguo, head of the administration for the Three-River-Source National Park, said the degradation of the region's ecology has been contained, the population of wildlife has increased significantly and the wetland areas have stabilized.

The percentage of vegetation cover in Sanjiangyuan had reached 67.3 percent by 2020, with the percentage of land in severe and medium-level desertification down by 5.6 percentage points over the past decade.

However, he pointed out that due to its unique geographical location and harsh, high-altitude climate, the ecological system in Sanjiangyuan remains "sensitive and fragile".

"The stability of the ecological system still faces severe challenges, and issues such as grassland degradation, land desertification, soil erosion, and ice and snow melting remain prominent," he said.

As one of the regions with the harshest natural conditions in China, the level of social participation in the conservation efforts remains inadequate, he said.

He explained that the channels remained limited for local herdsmen to increase their incomes, with the animal husbandry sector continuing to be a key source for their livelihood and the level of public services underdeveloped.

Plans in works

Going forward, Wang said the administration has outlined a long-term plan to promote the high-quality construction of the national parks including steps to promote eco-friendly growth, expand the scale of green sectors and encourage the transfer of more herdsmen to other sectors until 2024.

By 2025, the region will see improved water quality in the three rivers, greater adaptability to climate change and more herdsmen being transferred, he said.

So far, the region has offered jobs related to ecological conservation to 17,211 local residents as part of broader steps to attract farmers and herdsmen to take part in protection efforts, he added.

Many experts have underlined the broader significance of the development of national parks on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Erik Solheim, the former executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme, said the development of national parks in Qinghai "provides a valuable experience on improving ecological protection, alleviating poverty and promoting community development at the same time".

One of the big challenges for the development of the national parks, he noted, was "to gain the local herdsmen's support and secure the communities' livelihoods".

"A public welfare mechanism has been established, ensuring each household gets a park ranger job with a stable monthly salary. Public service capacity has been greatly enlarged, such as medical care, pensions, education and e-commerce," he said.

"This is key to conservation everywhere, the mobilization of local communities. A beautiful China must be built with local buy-in," he added.

Chen Fahu, an academician from the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told a forum earlier this month that the development of national parks on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau will serve as a key carbon sink for the nation.

The development of the Three-River-Source and Qilian Mountains national parks will enable the ecosystems of grasslands, forests and wetlands to play more important roles as carbon sinks and help the nation honor its climate commitments, he said.