Seven ecological districts have been set up in Tibet in an effort to establish an ecological
safety guarantee system and provide scientific grounds for
reasonable utilization and use of the area's natural resources.
In cooperation with Chengdu Institute of Mountain Hazards and
Environment under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Tibet's
environmental protection administration and development office
jointly worked out the "Tibet Autonomous Region Ecological Function
Divisions," which have been approved for implementation by the
regional government, Tibet Business Daily reported on
Monday.
The "Ecological Function Divisions" stipulate each district's
dominant ecological service function, environmental sensitivities,
major difficulties and environmental protection goals. In addition,
based on all of these factors, specific economic layout, direction
of development and environmental protection measures have been
proposed for each ecological district.
In total there are seven ecological districts, 17 sub-ecological
areas and 76 ecological function sectors. The seven districts are:
southeastern Tibet mountainous tropical rainforest/seasonal forest;
eastern Tibet mountain and valley temperate and semi-moist
evergreen broadleaf/dark coniferous forest ecological district;
Nujiang River source plateau sub-frigid and semi-moist meadow;
southern Tibet temperate and semi-drought meadows; Changtang
plateau sub-frigid and semi-drought prairie; Kunlun plateau frigid
and drought desert prairie; and Ali mountainous temperate and
drought desert ecological district.
According to the regional environmental protection
administration, the divisions offer a basis for the establishment
of open economic, limited development and non-exploitation zones in
Tibet.
The divisions also provide scientific grounds for drawing up a
regional ecological and environmental protection and construction
plan.
(China.org.cn by Zhang Tingting, August 27, 2006)