An international delegation, made up of reporters from the United States, Germany, Japan and Spain, experienced firsthand how the northwestern province of Qinghai is pioneering Chinas eco-friendly civilization drive through concrete green development projects.Improved biodiversity protectionIn the summer, Qinghai Lake, located in the northeastern part of the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, sparkles with azure waves, bursting with visitors.
Brown-headed gulls wheel above the water surface, while vast schools of the lakes unique species, naked carp, glide beneath.
The naked carp constitutes over 90 percent of the lakes overall fish population and functions as the primary victim for birds such as brown-headed gulls.
This species plays an important role in preserving the environment and biodiversity of the Qinghai Lake basin, said Wang Shuning, with the security and utilization administration of the Qinghai Lake picturesque area.Due to overfishing and environmental deterioration, the population of naked carp dramatically declined in the 1960s and 1970s.
In order to safeguard the types and bring back the Qinghai Lake environment, Qinghai banned naked carp fishing at the lake in 2001, following a series of temporary prohibitions from the 1980s onward.Between 2002 and 2023, the biomass of naked carp increased almost 46-fold.
Additionally, as the only habitat of Przewalskis gazelles, an endangered antelope species, the Qinghai Lake basin has actually seen the overall number of the types recover from fewer than 300 at the beginning of preservation efforts to roughly 3,400 presently.
This amazing development reflects the concerted conservation efforts by both the Chinese government and regional communities.The province has embraced a holistic method to the protection and organized governance of the symbiotic environment of water-grass-fish-birds-animals in the Qinghai Lake basin.
It has established monitoring platforms for environmental sensing and hydrological early warning and has slowly established over 300 ecological monitoring sites.Two years earlier, local resident Dorje Tsomo ended up being an eco-friendly ranger at the Qinghai Lake beautiful location.
On task, she always carries an electronic camera to record environmental changes around the lake and a field manual compiling 98 types of waterbirds, which acts as her constant recommendation for learning their distinctive features, circulations and conservation statuses.
We also utilize a WeChat mini-program to record patrol routes, while close-by villagers without delay report injured birds.
Together, we safeguard Qinghai Lake, the home all of us share, she said.According to Chen Dehui, deputy director of the security and utilization administration of the Qinghai Lake picturesque area, growing varieties of herders are willingly taking on new functions –-- as photographers catching the lakes natural appeal and as interpreters in environmental education programs –-- diversifying their earnings sources while sharing in the benefits of conservation.
Qinghai Lakes eco-friendly preservation is really outstanding, stated Furuta Natsuya, a reporter with Japans Hokkaido Shimbun who checked out Qinghai for the first time.
Here, I witnessed a real design of human-nature coexistence and felt the extensive connection in between people and the natural world.
Ecology-enriched prosperityIn April this year, Kanbula, located in Jainca County of Huangnan Zang Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai, was formally designated as a UNESCO Global Geopark.
The park spans approximately 3,149 square kilometers with striking fiery-red Danxia landforms, towering jagged peaks, hidden caverns and emerald lakes.
This world-class geological landmark not only improves geo-conservation efforts however likewise speeds up local infrastructure development, drawing worldwide visitors to fuel cultural tourist incomes in the location, said Hou Guangliang, a professor at Qinghai Normal Universitys School of Geographical Sciences.In current years, Dekyi Village, which is near the geopark, has actually ended up being a living example of turning environmental properties into economic gains.
Thanks to government-sponsored training programs, our household now runs a homestay and agritourism service, local villager Jorgyi said.
Last year, we earned over 70,000 yuan (almost $10,000), and this year looks much more promising.
The town gets over 200,000 yearly visitors, producing more than 1 million yuan in collective and private dividends.
Like many regions in Hokkaido dealing with population decrease, Im particularly thinking about rural revitalization.
I wish to gain direct insights into how Chinese grassroots communities have actually experienced hardship reduction and the concrete results of government initiatives, said Furuta.Both China and Japan are actively exploring sustainable advancement pathways, Furuta noted, adding that the Qinghai see offered him profound insight into how both countries effective practices in neighborhood governance, ecotourism and cultural integration merit mutual learning.Eco-friendly energy In a sunny nation like Spain, individuals have been paying attention to the eco-friendly effect of the building and construction of large photovoltaic power stations, stated Alvaro Alfaro Ruiz-Alberdi, a reporter at the Spanish news company Agencia EFE.
I find it interesting to examine how Qinghai keeps the balance between this energy advancement and environmental protection.
The Spanish reporter discovered the answer at this very photovoltaic park, one of the highest-capacity solar energy facilities globally, in Gonghe County, Qinghais Hainan Zang Autonomous Prefecture.The parks innovative eco-industrial design –-- power generation atop photovoltaic panels, yard cultivation in between panels and sheep grazing beneath them –-- has brought back vegetation coverage to 80 percent in a location that was as soon as a dust-blown stretch of the Gobi Desert, according to Wang Anwei, director of the energy bureau of Hainan Prefecture.This agrivoltaic model has also increased income for livestock farming, generating over 10,000 yuan per mu (about $21,000 per hectare), and has actually assisted lift 173 neighboring towns out of hardship.
Now my flock has actually grown to about 800 sheep, and my earnings from grazing alone has doubled compared to in the past, said Zhao Guofu, a herder who began grazing his sheep here six years ago.By the end of 2024, the total financial investment in clean energy in the Hainan Prefecture reached 16.18 billion yuan (about $2.26 billion), with yearly tidy energy power generation amounting to 46.32 billion kWh.
Notably, photovoltaic power generation was about 17.9 billion kWh, representing a year-on-year boost of 16.21 percent.(Cover: A view of the Haixi Mongolian and Zang Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, northwest China, October 8, 2024./ VCG)