Tibet is launching a three-year, 48 million yuan pilot program in Xainza County of Ngari Prefecture, Dinggye County of Shigatse City, and Nagarze County of Lhoka City for ecological benefits in the wetlands and building an ecological safety net.  

Tibet has a total wetland area of 6.52 million hectares, about 5.3% of the national total, which ranks second in China. 

According to the Forestry Agency of the Tibet Autonomous Region,Tibet will start a compensation program for farmers and shepherds who lose any profit due to wetland protection measures or shepherding restrictions. In addition, protection agreements for farmers and shepherds as well as professional protective mechanisms will be put in place to promote long-term protection for all of the wetland resources.

Zongga, Deputy Director of the Forestry Agency of Tibet,said that in recent years, Tibet used monetary compensation measures to set up forestry ecological compensation programs, prairie ecological benefit awards and subsidies, and transfer payment programs in major ecological protection areas to protect various species on the plateaus. The new wetland ecological benefit program will help fill the void in the overall ecological protection system. 

The wetlands, long known as “kidney of the Earth”,help to preserve the multi-functional and diverse ecological system of our planet, and are irreplaceable for our world. Their benefit in nurturing water sources, adjusting the climate, and preserving ecological safety has become even more pronounced in recent years. 

In the Lalu Wetlands National Nature Reserve in Lhasa, largest urban wetlands in Tibet and has the highest altitude in China, there were bright blue skies and clear waters. The cattle and sheep leisurely grazed, and flocks of birds enjoyed their days. As a national-level nature preserve area, the Lalu Wetlands have a total area of 12.64 square kilometers, hosting over 30 kinds of emergent aquatic plants, 150-plus kinds of aqua-marine life, and multiple species of rare birds, it indeed deserves the nickname of “nature’s oxygen bar”.

The wetlands in Tibet are concentrated in the Nagqu and Ngari areas in the northwest. Nagqu has the largest wetland area, with 2.99 million hectares, while Ngari has the second-largest wetland area. Tibet has continued to work on an ecological protection system in the past few years, setting up ecological preserve areas and designating national wetland parks, major international wetlands, and major national wetlands. 

Research results have shown that wetlands have grown by 524.2 thousand hectares in the past ten years, a growth rate of 8.7%.

During the“12th Five-Year Plan,” Tibet has invested 7.1 billion yuan into a comprehensive ecological protection and construction program, part of the “Ten Major Infrastructure Projects” of China. 14.7billion yuan in ecological subsidies and compensation funds were issued. The “Two Rivers and Four Lakes” program was launched to add forests to river basins, greatly improving the quality of water, atmosphere, and soil in Tibet.