The changing ground of human rights

Good policies protect Tibet's environment

Thanks to the use of the power of autonomy in regions with high concentration of ethnic groups and the central government's external incentive mechanism, China has safeguarded some major environmental rights of ethnic people. Some of the successful cases are worth promoting. For instance, the Tibet autonomous region has taken the lead among China's provinces and autonomous regions in launching a pilot project for giving awards for protection of pasture ecology, initiating a program for replacing firewood with less destructive fuels in rural areas throughout the region and helping 150,000 families of farmers and herdsmen to use clean methane energy.

So far, 21 ecological reserves, seven national forest parks, three geo-parks, one national level place of interest and 47 natural reserves of different levels and types have been established in Tibet over 34.5 percent of its total area, which is the highest percentage in the country's provinces and regions.

The forest cover in the region has increased from less than 1 percent when it was peacefully liberated to 11.91 percent now. The autonomous region also has more than 6 million hectares of wetlands under protection. Latest environment communiqus show that water and the atmosphere in Tibet are basically not polluted. Tibet is among the world's best natural environmental regions, and it has embarked on a sustainable development road with equal emphasis on economic development and ecological protection.

To build a basic ecological safety barrier for Tibet by 2030, the central government on March 2, 2009, approved the Program of Tibet on the Protection and Construction of the Ecological Safety Barrier (2008-2030), for which it plans to invest 15.5 billion yuan.

Han Xiaobing is a doctor of jurisprudence, vice-dean of Graduate School of Minzu University of China, and director of China Society for Human Rights Studies; and Shesrab Nimais vice-president of and professor and PhD supervisor at Minzu University of China, and executive director of China Society for Human Rights Studies.

(China Daily 12/14/2012 page9)