Tibetan herders lead environment effort

Eco-tourism project

Protection of wild animals has been a major success. The numbers of Tibetan gazelles and wild donkeys have both exceeded 100,000, with government funding in ecological conservation increasing on a yearly basis, Dawa Tsering said.

Andreas Gruschke, a scholar from Leipzig University in Germany, has been to all but a few border townships in Qinghai on more than 50 research tours. He said more wild animals have been seen in the province in recent years, even near the main roads.

Wild gazelles used to keep some distance when seeing people. Now less afraid, they come a bit closer.

"They wouldn't go to the main roads unless they have a big population," Gruschke said, adding that the pastures "are certainly under stress" from an increasing number of wild animals and livestock.

The carrying capacity may vary from year to year because river sources and lakes can dry out. Rain is rare, but in June 2011, when he visited Qinghai, it had been a wet summer and had rained almost every day.

Gruschke has been offered a professorship at Sichuan University. He plans to develop a project on eco-tourism and start more discussions in China about how local residents can benefit from it.

Another study under consideration is waste disposal measures, especially in rural Tibetan-inhabited areas. Many drinking bottles can be seen, probably thrown away by truck drivers. Rural communities facing piles of uncollected waste should work with the administrators to find a solution, Gruschke said.

A three-river-source environmental protection association, which helps Tsochi village carry out its green initiatives, is also working on household garbage collection and medical waste disposal.

A team of villagers is in charge of garbage-collecting. They send the waste to a large pit near a river, where it smells, especially in summer, said Liu Ying, an accountant working for the association in Xining, capital of Qinghai.

Medical waste from rural clinics is usually burned or buried. It is difficult to collect because the clinics are located far apart. Some doctors are concerned about recycling syringes because tainted supplies could be reused and cause great harm to patients, Liu said.

In August, the association will invite doctors from Taiwan to train rural healthcare providers and will probably agree on a standard practice on how to collect medical waste, she said.

Contact the writers at liyao@chinadaily.com.cn and

daqiong@chinadaily.com.cn