How can Tibet reach a balance between economic growth and environmental protection, especially when the development of husbandry requires water and grass?
Our basic principle is that ecological protection comes first. We’ll never develop the economy at the cost of the natural environment, even if it means we have to slow down the pace of development. For years, we have underscored the importance of environmental planning, ecological protection and restoration, and promoting the construction of ecological protection zones. With its excellent air and soil, Tibet’s environment remains one of the best protected in the world.
Economic development doesn’t necessarily go against ecological protection. If we proceed in the right manner, both can be balanced and benefit each other. President Xi Jinping has said that to protect the ecological environment is to protect productivity and a good environment is an invaluable asset. Tibet’s excellent ecological environment is its biggest wealth and also the strongest guarantee for its sustainable development.
In order that economic growth doesn’t tarnish the ecological environment, we are, on one hand, restoring grazing land into grassland, developing facility-based husbandry, and breeding livestock in captivity so that the meadows are not depleted. Herdsmen and farmers will benefit from grassland protection subsidies and awards, as well as from the ecological compensation mechanism for forests, wetland and lakes.
On the other hand, we are also planting trees and grass, and utilizing desolate sandy tracts and hills to develop ecological agricul- ture and husbandry, adding more greenery to rural areas.