Resources for a sustainable future

3/9/2010 Guardian Like generations of Tibetan nomads before him, Phuntsok Dorje makes aliving raising yaks and other livestock on the vast alpine grasslandsthat provide a thatch on the roof of the world.
But in recent years the vegetation around his home, the Tibetan plateau, has
been destroyed by rising temperatures, excess livestock and plagues of insects
and rodents.

Tibetan nomad Phuntsok Dorje outside his tent. The green prairie that used to surround it has become a brown desert.
The high-altitude meadows are rarely mentioned in discussions of global warming,
but the changes to this ground have a profound impact on Tibetan politics and
the world’s ecological security.
For Phuntsok Dorje, the issue is more down to earth. He is used to dramatically
shifting cloudscapes above his head, but it is the changes below his feet that
make him uneasy.
“The grass used to be up to here,” Phuntsok says, indicating a point on his leg
a little below the knee. “Twenty years ago, we had to scythe it down. But now,
well, you can see for yourself. It’s so short it looks like moss.”
The green prairie that used to surround his tent has become a brown desert. All
that is left of the grasslands here are yellowing blotches on a stony surface
riddled with rodent holes.
It is the same across much of this plateau, which encompasses an area a third of
the size of the US.
Desertification
Scientists say the desertification of the mountain grasslands is accelerating
climate change. Without its thatch the roof of the world is less able to absorb
moisture and more likely to radiate heat.
Partly because of this the Tibetan mountains have warmed two to three times
faster than the global average; the permafrost and glaciers of the “Third Pole”
are melting.
To make matters worse, the towering Kunlun, Himalayan and Karakorum ranges that
surround the plateau act as a chimney for water vapour – which has a stronger
greenhouse gas effect than carbon dioxide – to be convected high into the
stratosphere. Mixed with pollution, dust and black carbon (soot) from India and
elsewhere, this spreads a brown cloud across swaths of the Eurasian landmass.
When permafrost melts it can also release methane, another powerful greenhouse
gas. Xiao Ziniu, the director general of the Beijing climate centre, says
Tibet’s climate is the most sensitive in Asia and influences the globe.
Grassland degradation is evident along the twisting mountain road from Yushu to
Xining, which passes through the Three Rivers national park, the source of the
Yangtze, Yellow and Lancang rivers. Along some stretches the landscape is so
barren it looks more like the Gobi desert than an alpine meadow.
Phuntsok Dorje is among the last of the nomads scratching a living in one of the
worst affected areas. “There used to be five families on this plain. Now we are
the only one left and there is not enough grass even for us,” he says. “It’s
getting drier and drier and there are more and more rats every year.”
Until about 10 years ago the nearest town, Maduo, used to be the richest in
Qinghai province thanks to herding, fishing and mining, but residents say their
economy has dried up along with the nearby wetlands.
“This all used to be a lake. There wasn’t a road here then. Even a Jeep couldn’t
have made it through,” said a Tibetan guide, Dalang Jiri, as we drove through
the area. By one estimate, 70% of the former rangeland is now desert.
“Maduo is now very poor. There is no way to make a living,” said a Tibetan
teacher who gave only one name, Angang. “The mines have closed and grasslands
are destroyed. People just depend on the money they get from the government.
They just sit on the kang [a raised, heated, floor] and wait for the next
payment.”
Many of the local people are former herders moved off the land under a
controversial “ecological migration” scheme launched in 2003. The government in
Beijing is in the advanced stages of relocating between 50% and 80% of the 2.25
million nomads on the Tibetan plateau. According to state media, this programme
aims to restore the grasslands, prevent overgrazing and improve living
standards.
The Tibetan government-in-exile says the scheme does little for the environment
and is aimed at clearing the land for mineral extraction and moving potential
supporters of the Dalai Lama into urban areas where they can be more easily
controlled.
Qinghai is dotted with resettlement centres, many on the way to becoming
ghettos. Nomads are paid an annual allowance – of 3,000 yuan (about £300) to
8,000 yuan per household – to give up herding for 10 years and be provided with
housing. As in some native American reservations in the US and Canada, they have
trouble finding jobs. Many end up either unemployed or recycling rubbish or
collecting dung.
Some feel cheated. “If I could go back to herding, I would. But the land has
been taken by the state and the livestock has been sold off so we are stuck
here. It’s hopeless,” said Shang Lashi, a resident at a resettlement centre in
Yushu. “We were promised jobs. But there is no work. We live on the 3,000 yuan a
year allowance, but the officials deduct money from that for the housing, which
was supposed to be free.”
Their situation was made worse by the earthquake that struck Yushu earlier this
year, killing hundreds. People were crushed when their new concrete homes
collapsed, a risk they would not have faced in their itinerant life on the
grasslands. Many are once again living under canvas – in disaster relief tents
and without land or cattle.
In a sign of the sensitivity of the subject, the authorities declined to
officially answer the Guardian’s questions. Privately, officials said
resettlement and other efforts to restore the grassland, including fencing off
the worst areas, were worthwhile.
“The situation has improved slightly in the past five years. We are working on
seven areas, planting trees and trying to restore the ecosystem around closed
gold mines,” said one environmental officer. The problem would not be solved in
the short term. “This area is particularly fragile. Once the grasslands are
destroyed, they rarely come back. It is very difficult to grow grass at high
altitude.”
The programme’s effectiveness is questioned by others, including Wang Yongchen,
founder of the Green Earth Volunteers NGO and a regular visitor to the plateau
for 10 years. “Overgrazing was considered a possible cause of the grassland
degradation, but things haven’t improved since the herds were enclosed and the
nomads moved. I think climate change and mining have had a bigger impact.”
Assessing the programme is complicated by political tensions. In the past year,
three prominent Tibetan environmental campaigners have been arrested after
exposing corruption and flaws in wildlife conservation on the plateau.
Infestation
Another activist, who declined to give his name, said it was difficult to
comment. “The situation is complicated. Some areas of grassland are getting
better. Others are worse. There are so many factors involved.”
A growing population of pika, gerbils, mice and other rodents is also blamed for
degradation of the land because they burrow into the soil and eat grass roots.
Zoologists say this highlights how ecosystems can quickly move out of balance.
Rodent numbers have increased dramatically in 10 years because their natural
predators – hawks, eagles and leopards – have been hunted close to extinction.
Belatedly, the authorities are trying to protect wildlife and attract birds of
prey by erecting steel vantage points to replace felled trees.
There is widespread agreement that this climatically important region needs more
study.
“People have not paid enough attention to the Tibetan plateau. They call it the
Third Pole but actually it is more important than the Arctic or Antarctic
because it is closer to human communities. This area needs a great deal more
research,” said Yang Yong, a Chinese explorer and environmental activist. “The
changes to glaciers and grasslands are very fast. The desertification of the
grassland is a very evident phenomenon on the plateau. It’s a reaction by a
sensitive ecosystem that will precede similar reactions elsewhere.”
Phuntsok Dorje is unlikely to take part in any study. But he’s seen enough to be
pessimistic about the future. “The weather is changing. It used to rain a lot in
the summer and snow in the winter. There was a strong contrast between the
seasons, but not now. It’s getting drier year after year. If it carries on like
this I have no idea what I will do.”
Additional reporting by Cui Zheng
Go to: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/sep/02/tibetan-plateau-climate-change