Once spanning a massive 500,000 square kilometers, the
previously untouched reaches or uninhabited areas of the
Qinghai-Tibet Plateau have shrunk by about 200,000 square
kilometers due mainly to man and livestock encroaching on nature's
turf, the Beijing Youth Daily reported September 6.
According to Liu Wulin, head of the Tibet
Autonomous Region's Forestry Exploration Research Institute and
also a wild animal expert, communities of nomads have been found in
an uninhabited area?-- about 100,000 square kilometers in
size?-- just outside of the Qiangtang and Hol Xil nature
reserves where nomads already live.
The uninhabited areas of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, at an average
altitude of 4,600 meters above sea level, have been nicknamed the
"world's highest natural zoo" by local and international scholars.
It is home to more than 40 animals that are under first or
second-class national protection including the Tibetan antelope,
the wild yak, the snow leopard and the black-necked crane.
It is also one of the few unexplored areas left in the world and
an important ecological protection zone and water source for China.
China's mother river, the Yangtze, originates in this area.
The uninhabited areas of Hol Xil, located in northwest China's
Qinghai
Province, have a total area of 45,000 square kilometers. The
Fenghuo Mountain pass, at an altitude of 5,000 meters, has already
been inhabited by nomads. Over 1,000 sheep and 200 yaks graze on
the mountain.
Caiga, director of the Hol Xil Natural Reserve Administration,
said their latest investigation shows that 64 households and 392
people had moved into the reserve, along with over 7,200 cows and
40,000 sheep.
Those who moved into the uninhabited area are not only local
nomads of Qinghai but also nomads from Nagqu in Tibet. Together,
they occupy and exploit about 25 percent of the reserve, Caiga
said.
The Qiangtang Natural Reserve in Tibet covers a total area of
298,000 square kilometers, with an average altitude of 5,000
meters. It is currently China's largest natural land reserve. About
70 percent of the Tibetan antelope population is found here.
Buqiong, director of the Qiangtang Natural Reserve
Administration, said that 30 years ago, there wasn't a soul living
here except for a few researchers. However, as early as 1976, over
100 households of nomads moved into the area and established the
Shuanghu Administrative Office. There are now over 400 households.
The population in this administrative area exceeds 10,000. The
portion of previously uninhabited land now teeming with human
activities and livestock exceeds 100,000 square kilometers.
(China.org.cn by Wang Qian, September 9, 2005)