Xizang always prioritizes eco-environmental conservation: white paper

LHASA -- Southwest China's Xizang autonomous region has always prioritized eco-environmental conservation and kept reminding itself that conserving the ecology of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is the greatest contribution to the survival and development of the Chinese nation, said a white paper issued by China's State Council Information Office Friday.

The region is committed to maintaining harmony between humanity and nature in modernization. It also strives to continuously improve eco-environmental governance and protect biodiversity on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, according to the white paper titled "Human Rights in Xizang in the New Era."

Xizang has become one of the regions with the healthiest eco-environment in the world, where the protection of the people's environmental rights has been steadily upgraded, said the document.

Xizang has established 47 nature reserves of all kinds, covering 412,200 square km. According to the second survey of terrestrial wild animals, there are 1,072 terrestrial wild vertebrate species and 246 wild animal species under special state protection in Xizang.

The document said that Xizang has made steady progress in developing the network of eco-environmental monitoring, focusing on surface water and drinking water sources, and air quality. Since 2016, the annual proportion of days with excellent or good air quality in Xizang has reached over 99 percent.

A rural greening action saw 10.31 million trees planted across 2,261 administrative villages, while an afforestation project in the mountains to the north and south of Lhasa has led to 10.58 million mu (705,333 hectares) of forests being planted. Through these large-scale greening programs, the per capita green area in Xizang has markedly increased and the eco-environment of urban and rural areas has continued to improve, it added.

According to the white paper, eco-environmental protection is being combined with efforts to improve people's lives across Xizang. Between 2018 and 2024, a total of 95.4 billion yuan (about $13.3 billion) was allocated as subsidies and rewards for ecological protection across the region.

From 2016 to 2024, an average of 516,000 jobs for eco-environmental protection were created annually, it said.