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Mount
Qomolangma Nature Reserve |
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After
a 10-year effort, the Qomolangma Nature
Reserve in the Tibet Autonomous Region
has done much work to clean up the mountain
environment and preserve the area's
natural resources. Over the past decade,
the nature reserve attracted 5 million
US dollars from seven international
organizations to use for a batch of
projects, in addition to 10 million
yuan from the local government. Now
the reserve, the country's third largest,
has sound transportation, telecommunications,
tourism and other infrastructure facilities.
The 8,848-meter Mount Qomolangma is
the world's highest mountain peak. The
nature reserve has been threatened by
increasing mountaineering and tourism
activities. Official statistics show
that over 6,000 mountain climbers, expeditions,
and tourists visit the nature reserve
annually. The nature reserve now aims
to be included in the World Heritage
list. And over the past ten years, the
local people have cleaned up a big amount
of rubbish left behind by visitors.
As part of measures to protect the environment
within the reserve, all vehicles and
mountaineers entering the area are checked
carefully. Protection efforts are producing
encouraging results. The number of wild
animals has been increasing, once-damaged
vegetation recovering, and the reserve's
environment and sites of historical
interest and cultural heritage have
been well protected.
Cooperation has been carried out between
government and international non-governmental
organizations in protecting natural
resources, developing ecology-friendly
tourism and improving farming and animal
husbandry facilities. They also cooperated
on energy resources and transport, handicraft
and tourist gift development, medical
treatment and sanitation, family planning,
education and personnel training. The
cooperative programs have not only helped
local people find ways to make money,
but also effectively protected the environment
and natural resources since tree-cutting
and poaching of wild animals have been
drastically reduced.
Villagers from Songduo Village at the
foot of Qomolangma have marked out an
area of cropland for feeding the increasing
number of quails and other birds which
used to seriously damage their crops.
The villagers said they know the birds
are protected. As a matter of fact the
farmers and herdsmen played a leading
role in carrying out the environmental
protection project in the Qomolangma
area.
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