*Tenzin Palden
According to a recent report by the
South China Morning Post (April 22, 2017), the Chinese government is planning
to turn whole of the Tibetan Plateau into a mega national park.
National parks are created to preserve
ecology as well as its cultural heritage. China's plan of
converting whole of the Tibetan Plateau into a national park is an arduous
task, but not impossible since many areas in Tibet have been already declared
national parks, such as, the Qinghai Golmud Kunlun Mountain
National Park, Jomolangma National Park, Namtso Nyenchen tanglha National Park,
Guge National Park and many more.
The Chinese government designates a
particular site as national park aiming for ecological sustainability.
Provincial and local governments are given responsibilities to operate national
parks with no further direction. However, local governments do not have
sufficient funds for construction and operation of national park and hence it
encourages private sectors to engage in initial infrastructure development and
permitting them to operate park for a time period. Private sectors profit from
the ticket sales for park entry and other recreational activities in the park.
They develop sites within the national park at scenic spots by building hotels,
resorts and restaurants. This defeats the objectives to preserve nature and to
protect biodiversity and its ecosystem.
Chinese scholars and environmentalists
have often critiqued the concept of national park and many argue whether they
are for conservation or are aimed at commercialisation. China has followed the
United States' method of monitoring its national park without understanding the
unified system of governance in United States against the fragmented and often
overlapping environmental governance in China.
China's plan of national parks in some
of the areas in mainland China encouraged large number of tourists, but a
severe loss in biodiversity and its plan to convert Tibetan Plateau into
"The Last Piece of Pure Earth" can be considered as the first call to
bring tourism to the whole of Tibet. China gained
such confidence from success in tourism industry in certain Tibetan cities
(Lhasa, Nyingtri and Gyalthang). China's need to construct huge area of
national park in recent times is mainly because of emerging
middle class with growing interests in outdoor recreational activities and this
demand for public recreational sites and hugely profitable tourism sector
attract state to build more number of national parks. The impact of tourism is
evident in Lhasa where the majority of tourists are Chinese and they have their
plans tailored to benefit Chinese businesses providing accommodation and food.
China's plan of converting the whole of
Tibet to a national park not necessarily mean a positive effort towards nature
conservation. On August 2013, there were reports of mining on a sacred mountain
in Zatoe region of north-eastern Tibet. The area is under the jurisdiction of
Sangjiangyuan National Nature Reserve. The local Tibetans of Zatoe County
protested against the mining company but were violently suppressed by Chinese
armed forces. In the year 2003, Sanjiangyuan Nature Reserve, (head source of
three rivers) was declared as a national-level nature reserve. Nature reserves are highly protected areas
where development projects like mining and tourism are strictly prohibited, and
national parks are built keeping in mind the economic and social development.
When local authorities mismanage a national-level reserve for their economic
benefit as evident in Zatoe, there is a clear picture of what Tibet will turn
into once it is designated as the third pole national park.
*The author is an environment Research
Fellow at the Tibet Policy Institute
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