Draft to boost conservation efforts on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

China plans to ramp up wildlife and ecosystem conservation efforts on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau via legislation at the national level, according to a draft law.

The draft was submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the country's top legislature, for a second reading on Tuesday.

Stretching for 2.58 million square kilometers, the plateau covers not only the Tibet autonomous region and Qinghai province, but also parts of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and the provinces of Sichuan, Gansu and Yunnan.

It is the origin of some of the longest rivers in the world, including the Yangtze and Yellow rivers.

If the draft becomes law, it will be compulsory for authorities with the National Forestry and Grassland Administration and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, as well as provincial-level governments on the plateau, to beef up efforts to protect the migration routes of wild animals and fish.

In particular, the draft calls for the protection of 14 species of wild fauna and flora, as well as yak, the snow leopard and the bighead fish.

The draft also stipulates that governments at the county-level and above should compensate people for damages and property losses caused by wild animals, including harm to livestock and crops.

In a move to enhance the integrity and connectivity of the plateau's ecosystems, national and local government bodies with duties related to biodiversity conservation should take effective measures to establish ecological corridors or improve existing ones, it said.

Ecological corridors are passages between protected areas and the surrounding natural environment.

The draft also includes new measures to prevent tourism from jeopardizing the environment and ecosystems on the plateau. It stated, for instance, that organizers and participants in tourism activities should either take waste they produce with them when they leave or deposit it at designated dumping sites for disposal.