rewarding qinghai tibetan plateau inhabitants as a way to achieve sustainable living

7/30/2019 Rewarding Qinghai Tibetan Plateau Inhabitants as a Way to Achieve Sustainable Living

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REWARDING QINGHAI TIBETAN PLATEAU INHABITANTS AS A WAY TO

ACHIEVE SUSTAINABLE LIVING Noam Goldstein

Abstract

This paper starts with an overview of the Qinghai Tibetan Plateau in China,

where its indigenous populations have been facing difficulties with the

management of their traditional livelihoods simultaneously with the proper

maintenance of the local ecosystem (and its natural cycles in a sustainable

way) ever since the forceful collectivization promoted by the Chinese

government in the 50s followed by a process of semi privatization in the 80s.

(Harris, 2010) After the contextualization, we summarize the concept of

contingent valuation for measuring the areas natural resource in a monetary

way, to then proceed with a suggestion for rewarding policies that could help

the local population to engage in environment friendly practices without

meaning that, by doing this they would be missing economic opportunities. The

sociopolitical structure of the region may be a positive factor, as it largely fits to

the frameworks described by the reviewed readings in that same area. And in

the end we simulate forms of surveying that could be aimed to the populations

that reside in the area that is being the theme of the research.

Key Words

Contingent Valuation, Willingness to pay, Payment for Environmental Services,

Committees, Sustainability


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Introduction

The Qinghai Tibetan Plateau (QTP) in southwestern China is a region where

the Coupled Human and Natural Systems (CHANS) is currently facing a

situation that demands definition to its fate regarding the continuity of the

surrounding environment as a sustainable ecosystem; while at the same time

ensuring a source of revenue to the residents in order to maintain their

traditional and centennial livelihoods. Standing in the Himalayan outskirts, the

region is known as Chinas Water Tower for its vital role of feeding several

water basins across south and East Asia through the rivers that rely on the

glaciers melting from the top of the mountains. (Dong et al., 2002)

Figure 1 The Qinghai Tibetan Plateau with China as perspective

(Harris, 2010)

In China, the rivers dependent to this ecosystem are three: the Yangtze River,

the Yellow River and Lankang-Mekong River. (Dong et al., 2012) Another

aspect that reinforces the level importance of such an area is the number of


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people whose lives depend on the water flowing through all those mentioned

rivers China and India are simply the two most populated countries in the

world, and their population as well as those from other countries that are linked

by those rivers are strongly dependent on these water resources. Hence it is

reasonable to conclude that anything that happens in respect to this

environment will affect entire populations, and therefore what these people do in

the sense of managing their water resources along with their daily routines is of

extreme interest.

Figure 2 The province of Qinghai and Gansu with the water basin that derives

from Qinghai Tibetan Plateau

(Conservation Bridge, 2011)

From a more local perspective, the populations that have been living right on

the Northeastern QTP areas more precisely in Tianzhu County and Sunan


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County, deserve closer attention, being the focus of this paper. The first with a

population of 230.000 people of ethnic Tibetan herders is the most populated

county of the Gansu Province. The second counts with a population of 15.000

people, most of them belonging to the Yugur ethnicity. (Dong et al., 2002)

Both these locals have indigenous populations whose knowledge and tradition

must be maintained as their practices have been enabling them to live in a

synergic way with the surrounding environment for centuries, in a type of tacit

wisdom that have been achieving the sustainability successfully over the time.

Figure 3 The Villages of Sunan and Tianzhu within the Qinghai Tibetan

Plateau

(Conservation Bridge, 2011)

In the present days, achieving a sustainable livelihood must include formulating

some sort of monetary significance to the populations way of life and

sustenance, since the spread of capitalist practices world-wide. Monetizing the


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natural resources and/or services as well as the peoples notion of value then

becomes the next natural step to follow if we are to set prices and prizes to the

respective groups of people involved in a context of managing natural resources

sustainably. (Constanza et al., 1997)

The fact that their livelihoods should be kept as close to the traditional customs

as possible doesnt necessarily mean that these populations wouldnt have to

undergo through changes that are usually a consequence of progress.

Considering that the grasslands are a finite resource that cant be consumed

indiscriminately is extremely relevant. Plus, it is also not possible to keep the

population from growing, which can become a problem as there is a finite

resource serving as a source of income and livelihood to an ever growing

population. These factors themselves are enough for creating a potential

scenario of Tragedy of the Commons, as even the herding and the context of

grasslands are similar to the original fable. (Hardin, 1968) It is important to

relieve the pressure on the grassland's renewal cycle and the entire ecosystem

surrounding that environment, and if that can be accomplished with also

increasing the populations options, a win-win situation could arise given that

in addition to the clear ecological gain the population could also benefit from

socio-economic gains that could augment their monetary options and avoid their

decadence.

In order to establish some type of Rewarding for the QTP area inhabitants, it

may be important to create some type of Committee that would comprise key

civil players into inter institutional negotiations (Dalto et al., 2011; Sangkapitux

et al., 2009) . Previous situations of such committees already exists in similar

natural scenarios and contexts, like in the Himalayan Rangelands in Northern


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Nepal (Dong et al., 2010; Idem, 2012), whose case for could perhaps work as

an example, for its proximities and common traits to the Chinese villages

situated in the QTP, in a similar way to what exists there. It is important the fact

the in the cases described by the authors in the 2010 paper, the local

committees from the Himalayan Nepal are communitarian-based, elected by the

members of the own community, and act as leaders within the decision making

process serving as representatives for the community.

Once that a form of Participative Committee is set, it then becomes important to

determine what is called Willingness to Pay (WTP) and Willingness to Accept

(WTA), by those parties involved with the management of the Common Pool

Resource (CPR), be it from the people that are supposed to receive the

payments and from the institutions responsible for its management. (Constanza

et al., 1997; Sangkapitux et al., 2009; Dalto et al., 2011)

How the Committees should operate, and how the Willingness to Pay (WTP) is

to be determined from the Qinghai Tibetan Plateau (QTP) Coupled Human and

Natural System (CHANS) players is to be addressed in the next session. We

work with the hypothesis that with the existence of a comprehensive method for

rewarding the players that rely on the same Common Pool Resource (CPR) by

the policymakers, a sustainable way of livelihood that could encompass both

the populations traditional customs and the environments level of resilience

more easily. Given that it might bring alternatives that allow some of the people

to at least find more choices for different types of activity that allow them to

maintain the environment without overstressing the grasslands. In other words:

by giving more economic options to some segments of the population, they


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would be able to find their sources of revenue from other activities and therefore

not always necessarily having to rely on their natural goods.

Methodologies

Before the determination of the WTP levels, it may be necessary to proceed

with a Contingent Valuation of the ecosystem goods and services provided by

the QTP area. Such a valuation is important as it creates condition for

comparisons, wealth measurements and monetary classification to the

resources that are subject to the transaction. The Total Economic Value of an

Environment must include also the non-use value, as it shall consist in the sum

of its use and non-use values. (Madani et al., 2012) Whereas the use value

derives from the results of direct and indirect uses (renewal and nutrient cycles,

biodiversity maintenance, etc.); while the non-use value is the utility gained by

simply knowing some environments existence. (Madani et al.;2012 apud

Spurgeon, 1992).

Bringing this to the case of the QTP areas, its total wealth to be measured could

consist in its 70% total cover of alpine rangelands in an area of 2.5 million of

km (Dong et al., 2012 apud Long, 2003), as well as in the direct use of

livestock grazing that enables some 42 million Tibetan sheep along with 13

million yaks to be fed and sustain households. (Dong et al., 2012 apudLong et

al., 1999). The total size of the area combined with the proportion of vegetal


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cover would bring a total agricultural value of the QTP that could then be fit to

the areas occupied by the Tianzhu and Sunan Counties according to the value

found per hectare and per year. And the total revenues brought by the cattle

herding activities would also measure its values and participation onto the

populations livelihoods taking the monetary value per head and per year.

The QTPs capacity of providing water for the several basins across Asia, as

well as its carbon capture capacity (Conservation Bridge, 2011), biodiversity

maintenance, and renewal and nutrient cycles should be considered as the

indirect use values (when considering its importance for the own inhabitants of

the areas) and non-use values considering its importance for the rest of the

population in China and Asia (relative to the Water Tower effect that the QTP

holds towards the continent).

After the Total Economic Value (TEV) of the QTP area is measured, it becomes

possible to determine the WTP and WTA from the key players involved in the

areas conservation and management. For that task it is becomes necessary to

arrange a set of preferences and habits from these players. Among the ways to

take this type of information, it is possible to use Participative Interviews, Choice

Experiments, Focused Interviews, Archive Research and Econometric

calculation. For all the techniques it is necessary to establish a set of socio-

economic questions, that aim to address particular questions and preferences

that would affect the WTP and WTA. (Madani et al., 2012; Dalto et al, 2011) For

this particular case we shall prepare questionnaires and Choice Experiments to

be used for Participative Interviews, which must count with the participation of

representatives from the population with their answers as well as Archive

Research in existing literature that deals with similar cases and local


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contextualization on the QTP area. The main differences between the Choice

Experiments and the Participative Interviews will be listed further in the text.

Rewarding Environmental Services

Rewarding for Environmental Services is a tool that seeks to attach different

players that are interested on the Sustainable Development to act together

according with their individual and common interests. These attempts may

signal to a trend to be adopted in several parts of the world. Nevertheless, due

to its newness, the Rewarding Environmental Services as a tool still needs to be

refined and improved, especially regarding the consideration of the local

particularities for further contextualization.

The basic rationale for payments for environmental services (PES) is thatwithout benefit transfers that are conditional on environmental service delivery,decisions on local resources use tend to overexploit resources and ignoreeffects on external stakeholders.(Leimona et al., 2008)

The authors meant by this paragraph that, without paying attention to local

needs and positioning, any attempt of establishing a rewarding policy that aims

to be sustainable will likely fail if simply imposed in a top-down fashion.

Types of Rewarded Services

Neef and Thomas (2008) list different types of possible rewards for

environmental services (that from now on will be referred to by the acronym


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PES Payment for Environmental services) as: a) Payments for pollution

control, b) Payments for conservation of Ecosystems and Natural Resources,

and c) Payments for Generation of Environmental Alleviation. The first type fits

basically to industries and power plants that generate pollution, while the

second is more adequate to communities and the third can work for both cases.

According to George et al (2008), the institutional context is highly important for

the success of any Payment for Environmental Services PES, with intermediate

institutions playing a crucial role for the operation. That explains the institutional

approach suggested by Sangkapitux et al (2008), at a research study made in

Thailand, in which a Managerial Committee was created to firstly receive the

funds from those interested in rewarding the Environmental Services, and to

then distribute it to those interested in doing the Environmental Services for

payment (again, the case of Himalayan Rangelands in Northern Nepal with its

committees can serve as an example, since the similar nature to the Chinese

QTP areas). Such a Managerial Committee could (and should) comprehend the

institutions involved in the issue of the preservation of the resources, holding an

inter institutional representation. In a context of a watershed with players

residing in high and low altitudes, generally those who are situated in the higher

areas are subjected to the direct use of the TEV; while those residing in the

lower areas stay with the non-use values of the TEV (the indirect use values

should concern all parties). And that occurs basically because of the way the

streams tend to flow by following the gravity. In this experiment, the WTP was

with the Downstream Communities, whereas the WTA with the Upstream

Communities.


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As in the case of the Chinese QTP areas, the environment of this study consist

in a water basin with its rivers, as well as different populations living in different

levels of topography with each spatial distribution having similar particularities.

In that case, it is possible to classify the inhabitants of the Tianzhu and Sunan

counties as the WTA holders, while the societies living in other parts of the

country (especially if directly in contact with the Yangtze, Yellow, and Lankang-

Mekong rivers) as WTP agents. More important, the WTP agents could also be

urban planners from the Chinas growing cities, which would be then helping to

prevent a process of Urban Exodus that could result from the farmers

impoverishment.

Figure 3 Institutional framework suggested for a PES scheme in the Mae Sa

watershed Thailand

Sangkapitux et al (2008)


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Another suggestion that can be found in most of the research that deal with

PES cases is the need to separate the real and main motivation of engaging

with that practice with intentions to fight poverty. It doesnt mean that the PES

cant be a tool for alleviating poverty, just that it must not be its primary goal.

One good explanation for this feature of PES is the potential for messing with

social conflicts that could involve the different players from different social

segments. Such a tense atmosphere could jeopardize the PES characteristic of

being a tool for preservation and sustainable development due to general

distrust caused by a wealthy people versus poor people scenario. Trust among

the parties is extremely important for the success of any PES policy. (Leimona

et al., 2008) Again, it is not the case of simply giving up on any attempt to

engage with something similar for a solution if there are poor people involved on

the affair. PES has to promote mutual economic social and environmental

interaction between players from antagonistic institutions, and that per se, is a

highly inclusivist measure that helps to fight social inequality. If one of the sides

of the transaction is actually in a situation of high vulnerability and poverty,

creating reward system not necessarily based on monetary transactions can

also be a solution (for example access to markets, cooperatives, legalization of

possessions, etc.), since these will be also promoting equality as well as

enabling sustainable transactions. Thus, we add the following characteristics

mentioned by Leimona et al (2008):

Realistic: a PES must be capable of reducing and averting menaces to

Environmental Services that would likely occur in the absence of future

intervention. For that, the benefits won by both sellers and buyers need to be

real and sustainable.


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Conditional: a PES must be capable of connecting real provisions of

Environmental Services with the reward being offered, in a way to assure the

transparency related to the conditions of when the rewards can be paid or not.

Voluntary: a PES is voluntary when the engagement of ES providers in

PES schemes is based on freedom of choice instead of ruling object.

Pro-poor: a PES considers the impacts equally in to all the players, and

the design of PES mechanisms is positively biased for the poorer stakeholders.

Needless to say that the observance and clarity of the Property Rights of a

given Natural Resource and/or environment is of extreme importance if any

PES scheme is to succeed (Dalto et al. 2011)

In that field, Harris (2010) brings the currently situation regarding the Chinese

QTP areas, where there has been a common practice for the settlers to engage

into 50 years contracts of provisory tenure in a quasi-privatization mode to set

up the local property rights towards land. That situation is important as it may

allow the title holders to act with their land and resources maintenance with

more autonomy, not to mention the avoidance of the classical tragedy of the

commons consequence of overgrazing due to excess of animals in the pasture

for instance (which can be directly addressed with the installation of fences, as

mentioned by the author in the same paper).

The viability of a PES policy must rely first on testing whether the local players

are actually prone to engage in a policy that would represent monetary

exchanging for the determination of actions to be made or to be prohibited in

order to achieve the desired level of environmental preservation. A way to test if

such disposition exists is by performing the Choice Experiments, which are


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short surveys that must present a set of options facing its direct consequences

and its monetary compensation once the environmental good/service is already

valuated.

Figure 5 Conceptual Structure of the Choice Experiment

Sangkapitux et al (2008:47)

It is important to achieve the best level of convergence between the goals of the

suppliers of the services holding the WTA and the receivers of the services that

are responsible for the WTP.

Accessing such an intertwined set of information and positions tend to be a

complex task. We choose to compile all that information (which will often

consist in first hand data) through Choice Experiments to then formulate the

questionnaire for the Participative Research. This because in the second type of

research there are more chances of occur strategic answers and/or protests. It


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is then presented a set of choices hierarchized, in which the lower position

represents those measures that do little or nothing to change the situation,

anticipating the maintenance of the status quo. The middle represents changes

and/or solutions to be adopted into the environmental practices, considering

minor costs. And the third set brings all the options that represents the more

effective and expensive solutions. Finally by applying these researches

repeatedly until that the choices converge, determining the preferences of the

parts involved in a mutually inclusive way.

Table 1 An example of attributes and levels of attributes (sets) from the choice

experiments for the ES suppliers

Sangkapitux et al (2008:49)

Major Results

In order to detect what questions should be brought in the questionnaire of the

Participative Research, it may be a good start to prepare a set of questions for a

Choice Experiments that would calibrate and better focus the questions. Based

on Harris (2010) following conclusions: the alternatives that could sound


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reasonable for the herders both seeking sustainability should aim to prevent the

overstocking of the herders (who could fell into that practice due to the

livestocks levels of price). That measure would keep the herds in the most

secure threshold away from the carrying capacity of both the animals and the

pastures. But in order to convince the herders to engage into this spontaneous

limitation to their livestock, it could be necessary to offer them monetary

compensations.

Another issue that could be appealing for the herders is about the choice for

lighter species for breeding versus the traditional heavier species. Based solely

on the animals biomass, it can seem interesting initially to create the larger

species. But after a further reasoning and taking consideration to the animals

impacts to the rangelands, it may also be a good choice to also create smaller

animals.

A third question that could be included to this Choice Experiment concerns the

herders choice for keeping the rangelands cultivation instead of planting

different types of crops. On one hand, the crops are not indigenous to the

environment and may cause damage to the land itself with undesired erosions.

On the other hand, these crops wouldnt be adopted for cultivation werent for its

market value. Thus, offering economic alternatives to the herders could help

them to maintain the original pastures.

The Choice Experiment is an attempt to measure the WTA of the inhabitants of

the QTP area that would be responsible for the maintenance of the natural

resources of the area. For that objective, they would have to observe some

shifts over their habits and daily routines. And for this to happen it may be a


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reasonable solution to monetize their practices and reward them for whatever

other choice that they would need to give in order to better keep the ecosystem

functioning.

For accessing the WTP from those populations more indirectly related to the

QTP area, different questions must be formulated, and given the higher

diversity of those populations, such a task must be taken after a more careful

and detailed research.

Based in the facts mentioned above, a possible arrangement for the ChoiceExperiment to be presented to the QTP inhabitants for determining their WTP

could be like this:

Table 2 A possible Choice Experiment to be presented to QTP inhabitants

(simulation)

Atribute Level

Breeding with maximizing threshold Level 1 Half of carrying capacity

Level 2 moderate over population

Level 3 no limits (Status quo)

Breeding birds Level 1 high rate of birds/mammals

Level 2 small rate of birds/mammals

Level 3 only large mammals (Status quo)

planting pastures Level 1 Only native pastures

Level 2 medium rate of pasture/crops

Level 3 different crops (Status quo)

WTA ($/household/year) Level 1 500

Level 2 300

Level 3 0 (status quo)


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Since the actual value of the QTP areas services, goods and revenues is

something that still havent been taken to a proper evaluation, these monetary

numbers that can be seen in the simulated Choice Experiment from above are

merely fictional, and serve just to present the hierarchical differentiation to the

three sets from a monetary perspective.

It was also taken into account the valuation made by Dong et al.,(2010), in

which the profitability of different varieties of seeds being cultivated ranged from

approximately US$ 220 when choosing to plant the native grasslands, US$ 305

when planting annual crops and US$ 466 when planting perennial pastures.

The basic differences are that while the first type is the least profitable, the

second is a monoculture that carries the most damaging effects for the overall

environment when put into practice regularly whereas the third is the most

vulnerable to the severity of winters in the region.

With a purely economic point of view, it may be understandable for the farmers

of the region to stay with the option for the perennial pastures; nevertheless

they may fell into a trap when the harshness of the local weather erases their

production. Having that in mind, it may also make economic sense at a first

sight to choose the monoculture of the annual crops (given that it also pays

better than staying with the native grasslands) despite the fact both the first and

second options cause rangeland degradation. (Harris, 2010) That type of

situation makes the case for trying the PES as a tool for changing the normal

incentives that these people are normally facing. It may also bring space to the

alternative options suggested by Dong et al (2010) with the policy of Grassland

Ban Project (GBP), with this option being in the Level 1 of the Choice


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Experiment, hence bringing a monetary reward that is compatible with its

impact.

As for the item from this Choice Experiment that consist in the option forbreeding the cattle by the half of its carrying capacity, such premise is based in

the work from Pikitch et al. (2012), where the authors conducted series of

experiments with forage fishes stocks versus its predator stocks taking these

fisheries valuations to yearly flows. Their conclusion was that, with the forage

fishes stocks staying by the half of these species carrying capacities, not only

these species stocks were being held at a sustainable level reproductively

speaking; but also with the same happening to these species natural predators

stock levels. If we apply a similar relation between species in the QTP context, if

the mammals stocks are being bred in half of its carrying capacity, then the

pastures stocks may be maintained in a level that avoids overgrazing. Hence,

the species maximizing threshold is situated at the half of its carrying capacity.

In addition to the Experiment of choice presented above, another simulated

survey that would enquire the populations overall situation regarding the QTP

management could be a questionnaire Participative Research. Such type of

questionnaire should clarify the populations overall situation concerning their

socio economical livelihoods in the present, past as well as in the near future,

by collecting data not only from their current statuses and possessions but also

considering their perspectives related to the continuing of their livelihoods and

the future steps of the rest of their household members. It addresses also

issues like what are the most likely paths for the next generation to follow, and

what are the reasons for such fates to occur within a given family. This type of

information can tell about what are their chances in the current situation and


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what they believe could be different in that matter if the context could be

modified. It may also be possible to get information regarding the overall

situation in the past, by interpreting and comparing some of the answers related

to improvements, changes and alterations that were made in the properties with

what is being found now and contains differences.

A simulated questionnaire based in what was done in Goldstein (2009) can be

prepared by taking into consideration the similarities of rural populations habits,

problems faced, aspirations, constraints and realities can be something similar

to this:

Table 3 a possible Participative Research questionnaire (simulation)

Model of questionnaire adapted for the QTP context

1 Name gender age Educational level External source of revenue

2 Work force (personnel, machinery, animals)

2.1 Work force classification (number of people, gender, age)

3 Inventory ( land for herding, land for pasture, buildings for living, Buildings for business

3.1 Improvements made to the land

3.2 State of equipment (year of purchase, age, years of activity)

4 Composition of revenues Activity/year (animal breeding, crop cultivation, other services)

4.1 total yearly revenues

5 Quality of life (size of house, number of restrooms, access to sewer and pipe water)

5.1 Waste management (burn, recycles, compost, throw away)

5.2 Access to basic services (medical, dental, education, transportation, community leisure)


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6 Family successions (age and occupation of sons, perspectives of continuing in the family business)

7 Socio economic profile (the importance of the common pool resources of the QTP area to life in general)

8

Perception of Environmental Hazards (do you understand that the QTP natural resources are under any type of

stress?)If so, why?

A good way to present these questions to the people that are supposed to fill

those forms is by promoting reunions and communitarian events that could

gather a significant number of key people whose answers would provide

important insights. For that matter, it is important that the populations are

engaged in communitarian habits of life and can count with local based

institutions that could also work along with the committees. (Dalto et al., 2011)

In the case of the Chinese QTP areas, it can be of help the facts that (1) in both

the villages of this study exists an ethnic homogeneity predominating Yugurs

in Sunan and ethnic Tibetans in Tianzhu. (Dong et al., 2002) (2) The economic

activities of these villages are directly related to their land cultivation and/or

property-related exploration [cattle and its feeding]. (3) The villages populations

are in a number that is not high enough to keep away them from engaging into

communitarian activities and discussions. (Goldstein, 2009)

And finally, as it is possible to take from the nature of the questions in the table

above, the survey also aims to take the level of awareness from the local

populations regarding environmental issues like waste management, sanitary

conditions and habits. These issues relate directly not only with the populations

quality of life and health, but also to in what degree they are already engaged

with sustainable practices towards the environment in what concerns their

garbage disposal.


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The more information and the more detailed data it can be collected from the

people, the better a policy can be formulated and a proper value for a PES can

be instituted with the real engagement of the involved parts. This author

believes that with the history of complex and detailed administrative measures

that China has had over centuries, it is possible to engage its population in

relatively complex efforts in order to achieve a common and participative policy

with the environment and the economy being used with sustainability,

Conclusion

The existing framework of the Chinese political system, where the quasi

privatization process bound the population with the administrative agents in fifty-

year long contracts (Harris, 2010) can be a factor to facilitate a greater level of

adhesion from the population to initiatives like the described in this paper that

target the collection of data based on their very realities. Another positive

aspect that could facilitate the implementation of similar actions as the

mentioned above is the existence of Administrative Committees in the

Himalayan Rangelands in Northern Nepal (Dong et al., 2012), that could serve

as a model for the Chinese QTP areas if these are to engage in participative

policies.

This paper suggests that Experiments of Choice should be made in order to

inquire the populations openness to accept monetary rewarding if this is going

to help them to keep living their traditional livelihoods without depleting the

natural resources of the QTP. In order to define the levels of Willingness to Pay


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and Willingness to Accept of the actors, it is also necessary to gather as many

information as possible from the peoples daily routine with the most details as

possible. For that matter it may also be necessary to perform the forms of

questionnaires known as Participative Research, and for both formats of

surveys this paper produced simulated forms that could be refined for future

application.

If the participation of the population is granted and the policies that are to be

formulated take this information to consideration (derived from the population

participation), the chances that a sustainable way of living both socio

economically and ecologically will succeed can be higher than any policy that is

determined in a top-down fashion.

Finally, given the enormous importance of the Qinghai Tibetan Plateau, also

known as the Chinas Water Tower, any attempt made to ensure the continuing

of the well-functioning of this ecosystem services, goods and cycles must

imperatively be a priority to all spheres of the society, be it national, regional,

governmental, civil, private, etc.


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