Pastoralism and Rangeland Management on the Tibetan Plateau in ...

2 Eco-Shelter Concept
for the Tibetan Plateau
2.1 To build the Tibetan Plateau as an
Eco-Shelter: from Policymaking to Designation,
Action <strong>and</strong> Reconsideration
Fu Yao 4 , Tu Yan-li 5 , Yang Yong Ping 6
Abstract
This paper presents a review of an ongoing Tibetan Plateau eco-shelter
programme in the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China. The programme
background is situated in the context of China’s decision-making <strong>and</strong> the institutionalization
of environmental conservation <strong>and</strong> restoration after the flood
disaster of 1998. The Tibetan Plateau has an important role in the maintenance
of the rich biodiversity, water resources <strong>and</strong> Tibetan livelihoods, but faces
unpredictable threats <strong>and</strong> is vulnerable due to the pressures of climate change
<strong>and</strong> human activities. The eco-shelter programme, based on the regionalization
of highl<strong>and</strong> environmental <strong>and</strong> conservation needs, is committed to a holistic
regional protection <strong>and</strong> restoration plan, with a total investment of 15.5 billion
Yuan over twenty years. Even if the primary results have show modest success,
programme designation <strong>and</strong> implementation should be reconsidered in the
context of climate change <strong>and</strong> its impacts, the application of ecosystem service
payments, employment for resettled pastoralists, <strong>and</strong> conflict management between
increasing tensions between wildlife <strong>and</strong> local livelihoods development.
4 Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research at Kunming, Kunming Institute of Botany,
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming; Graduate University of Chinese Academy of
Sciences, Beijing
5 Plateau Institute of Biology, Lhasa
6 Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing
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