Want China Times, Xinhua 2015-01-28
China plans to build a national park in the Sanjiangyuan region, the cradle of the Yangtze, Yellow and Lancang rivers in northwest China's Qinghai province.
The Ngoring Lake in the Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve in Madoi, Qinghai province, August 2014. (Photo/Xinhua) |
China plans to build a national park in the Sanjiangyuan region, the cradle of the Yangtze, Yellow and Lancang rivers in northwest China's Qinghai province.
A guideline
for the park has been completed by a design institute under the State Forestry
Administration, Wang Enguang, chief engineer with Qinghai's forestry department,
said on Tuesday.
The park
will cover more than 30,000 square kilometers, including the rivers' sources in
Madoi, Zhidoi and Zadoi counties. If the plan is given the green light,
construction can begin as early as the end of this year.
At an average
altitude of 4,000 meters on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the Sanjiangyuan region
is a paradise for herders and wildlife, such as the Tibetan antelope.
"Sanjiangyuan boasts a highland ecosystem comprising glaciers, meadows and
wetlands. It's not common in China, even Asia, and has extremely high
scientific value," Wang said. It is home to over 70 animal species under
state protection.
Global
warming and human activity since the end of last century have led to
deterioration of the natural environment, shrinking wetlands, decreasing water
levels in lakes and water flow in the headwaters, as well as increasing
desertification.
Hoping to
repair the fragile ecological system, China established the Sanjiangyuan Nature
Reserve in 2000. Five years later, a 7.5 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion)
ecological conservation project was launched in the region. In last January, a
second-phase conservation project for Sanjiangyuan started with an investment
of 16 billion yuan (US$2.56 billion).
Thanks to
the efforts, the forest coverage rate in Sanjiangyuan increased from 3.2% in
2004 to 4.8% in 2012, and is expected to reach 5.5% by 2020.
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