Desertification and control plan in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China

The Tibet Autonomous Region is inhabited chiefly by ethnic Tibetans. The Chinese government has always been concerned with the harmony between economic development and environmental protection in the region. Although desertification in Tibet was studied only recently, tremendous progress has been made over the last 10 years. Tibet has now become a leading region in China in studies of the distribution, monitoring, and rehabilitation of desertification. Our study in 1996 showed that desertified area in Tibet totaled 20,474,114•4 ha and the area vulnerable to desertification mounted to 1,365,180•5 ha. Judging from the factors affecting desertification processes, and the past trend of desertification, desertification in the region is an urgent problem that must be tackled. Therefore, it still remains an urgent task that must be tackled. Both central and local governments have paid enormous attention to desertification control and prevention in Tibet in order to foster economic development and to protect the environment in the region. A detailed desertification control plan was worked out in 1997. It involves three stages. In the first stage (1997–2000) which is currently under way, 437,320 ha of desertified land will be rehabilitated. In the second stage (2001–2010), another 1,397,520 ha of desertified land will be rehabilitated. In the third stage (2011–2020) 3,409,030 ha of desertified land will be rehabilitated. Because of its strategic importance in the economic development in Tibet, the middle reaches of the ‘one river and two tributary’ should been selected as the major region for carrying out desertification control measures while attention should also be paid to other regions.