Environmental protection & community development in the Tibetan Plateau region of China

青藏高原地区环境保护与社区发展

                 

 

                    English  /  中文 (Chinese)

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Up
Tibetan wildlife
China's PAs
Tibetan Plateau PAs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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  Yangtze River Headwaters Sustainable Development Project

 

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Community Health

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Basic Education

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Environmental Protection

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Grassroots Conservation Initiatives

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Conservation Training for Nature Reserve

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Suojia Ecological Monitors / Wildlife Monitors

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Capacity Building of Tibetan NGO

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GIS-based Regional Planning

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Other related activities...

 

 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

Grassroots Conservation Initiatives

Expert advice and environmental awareness raising has been provided to the local NGO Upper Yangtze Organization and the Suojia Government since 1998. Significant among the local government's subsequent activities, attributed in part to long-term visioning undertaken together with Plateau Perspectives, have been the establishment of several community-based protected areas and conservation awareness raising in the local community. Initially, protected areas were created for four focal species: snow leopard, black-necked crane, Tibetan antelope (chiru) and Tibetan wild ass (kiang). Since then, two other protected areas have also been created, for wild yak and a wetland area. Conservation awareness raising has been conducted in a variety of contexts, including annual community planning meetings, in tent schools, in literacy classes, at teacher training workshops and in the course of Plateau Perspectives field trips.

An overview of this conservation work is now published as a book chapter in a new publication by United Nations University Press: Innovative communities: People-centred Approaches to Environmental Management in the Asia-Pacific Region (eds. Velasquez, J., Yashiro, M., Yoshimura, S., & Ono, I.), UNU Press, 2005.

Downloads:      Book summary; summary of 'case study' on Suojia community; Highland Encounters: Building new partnerships for conservation and sustainable development in the Yangtze River Headwaters, the heart of the Tibetan Plateau.

Read or buy online here.

 

More information can also be found in Dr J Marc Foggin's PhD dissertation: Biodiversity Protection and the Search for Sustainability in Tibetan Plateau Grasslands (Qinghai, China). PhD dissertation, Arizona State University. Tempe, Arizona, USA. December 2000.

 

 

Conservation Training for Nature Reserve

Plateau Perspectives has offered its services to the Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve (SNNR) to help train its office workers and wardens in wildlife monitoring techniques and other aspects of conservation science. The SNNR's Management Bureau is enthusiastic to establish closer ties with Plateau Perspectives as well as with local communities, an aspect of conservation that Plateau Perspectives would like to support (i.e., community co-management of natural resources). Several senior international conservation scientists are presently assisting in the running of initial training workshops and in program design. The Yangtze River Headwaters Training Workshop and Planning Meeting was held in October 2005, following which long-term plans for regional conservation and sustainable development were agreed by the SNNR, local government and NGOs, local community representatives and Plateau Perspectives.

A summary document and conservation action plan is now available:

Promoting Biodiversity Conservation and Community Development in the Sanjiangyuan Region: Proceedings of a conservation planning meeting, with agreed priority action points. Biodiversity conservation planning meeting co-hosted by Plateau Perspectives, Upper Yangtze Organization, Government of Zhiduo County and the Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve Management Bureau. Held in Yushu town, Sep 30 - Oct 13, 2005.

One of six key action points agreed is the establishment of a Tibetan Conservation & Development Centre.

 

Suojia Ecological Monitors  /  Wildlife Monitors

Another initiative of the Suojia Government and Upper Yangtze Organization has been the establishment of the Suojia Ecological Monitoring Unit. This unit was comprised of sixteen community leaders (local government leaders) who collected data on wildlife observed throughout the year. As such, they led the way in showing how local people could contribute to a better understanding of grassland ecology in what is now a core zone of the Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve, at little additional cost and in a way that increases local support for the national environmental endeavour. Plateau Perspectives provided wildlife training to local leaders, produced data worksheets and has contributed more than 30 binoculars and other survey materials to enable effective work by the wildlife monitoring unit.

More recently, a non-government wildlife team was established in Jiongqu village to monitor the local population of Tibetan wild ass and other species. A similar wildlife team has been organized in a wetland area of Yaqu village as well.

 

Capacity Building of Tibetan NGO

Plateau Perspectives supports civil society in Qinghai Province, primarily through its support to the local Upper Yangtze Organization. Specifically, long-term use of a Beijing Jeep, a SLR camera and a tape recorder have been provided to facilitate project monitoring. Professional assistance and other forms of non-cash assistance also have been given to undertake a documentary trip into the high altitude uninhabited Kekexili and to the source of the Yangtze River to produce a government-supported commemorative book for the 50th anniversary of the founding of Zhiduo County (1953-2003). Technical and professional support have been given on numerous other occasions as well.

 

GIS-based Regional Planning

With geographic datasets purchased from ACASIAN, a GIS spatial decision-making tool is currently being developed for the Sanjiangyuan region of Qinghai Province, with initial focus on the Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.

 

Plateau Perspectives © 2003-2006

http://www.plateauperspectives.org

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