Webinar assesses Tibetan poverty, culture

Eight professors and experts from home and abroad shared their thoughts on the poverty alleviation and culture preservation in the Tibet autonomous region over the last few decades in an online event.

The event, as the online side event of the 46th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council International Webinar on Poverty Alleviation and Culture Preservation in Tibet Autonomous Region is held at China Tibetology Research Center in Beijing on Tuesday.

During his presentation, Dralo, a researcher at the China Tibetology Research Center, praised the achievements Tibet has made in poverty reduction over the past decade.

Dralo described the contribution of cooperatives to grassroots social development by introducing different cooperatives in different parts of the region.

"Cooperatives help Tibetan rural residents save their labor. They can spend more time doing part-time jobs to generate more income, while their means of production is managed by only a few people," he said.

The cooperatives also provide more job opportunities to impoverished residents in remote villages, and which is in cope with the governmental efforts of establishing cooperatives at the village level, he said.

"In 1951, Tibet's poverty rate was as high as 80 percent. It was lowered to 26 percent in 2012 thanks to the governmental efforts in financial investment and infrastructure construction in various aspects."

During the event, eight experts and scholars gave keynote speeches related to the topic of China's efforts and experiences in conducting poverty eradication, along with cultural preservation projects in Tibet. Five scholars have made comments on the presentations.