Ellen Liu
China Tibet Online
April 29, 2014
The area of the sources of three major rivers in Qinghai Province will be restrictively developed, reported by chinatibetnews.
The first Land Use Development Plan has been issued recently by Qinghai Province after seven years of drafting.
“Given Qinghai’s important ecological position, the Plan is of strong power featuring green development,” said Wu Haikun, director of the Qinghai Reform and Development Bureau.
According to the Plan, the main functional zone will be divided into the development zone, the restrictive development zone and the prohibited development zone, with the latter two accounting for 90 percent of the total area including the sources of the Yangtze River, the Yellow River and the Lancang River.
The Qinghai Province covers an area of 720,000 square kilometers with a population of 5.7 million and a fragile ecological environment. The ecological functional zone of grassland, meadow and wetland in the water head area is the important source of fresh water in China, known as the “water tower of the country” with the dimensions of 414,100 square kilometers. It is one of the areas with main rivers, glaciers, snowy mountains and highland biological species of the world, which plays a key role in adjusting global climate.
Wu Haiqun said, the major functional zones of the land refer to separated development zones based on their resources, environment as well as development level and potential.
The prohibited development area includes 20 state nature reserves, scenic spots and forest parks, 437 national and international wetlands as well as provincial-level nature reserves with a total area of 230,400 square kilometers, Wu Haiqun said.
“This is an important area for the protection of nature reserves, historical and cultural resources, rare species of animals and plants including the sources of the three major rivers.”
However, the “prohibited water head zone” does not mean to restrict or forbid its development, instead it is a buffer zone and an experiment zone to allow proper development of ecological animal husbandry, tourism and infrastructure including transportation, telecommunication and power grid for the wellbeing of the local people,” Wu added.
