Tibet sees great progress in wildlife protection

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Source: CCTV.com | 03-29-2009 13:46

Over the past 20 years, Tibet has seen significant progress in protecting its wildlife and environment. Most of the credit goes to both the government and a growing number of campaigners. CCTV reporter spoke to one such environmentalist in Tibet, who shared his joy and concerns about the region's ecology.

Over the past 20 years, Tibet has seen significant progress in protecting its wildlife and environment.

This is Lhasa office of the World Wildlife Fund. Staff are discussing their work plans for the next six months. They expect to have a busy schedule that includes tiger protection in the remote Motuo area and training local customs officials.

45-year-old Dawa Tsering is the director of WWF's Tibet program. He holds an MA in Anthropology from Case Western Reserve Unversity in the US. He helped found WWFs' first office in Tibet in 2001. Dawa Tsering and his colleagues are dedicated to fighting the poaching of endangered species on the Tibetan plateau, as well as other environmental conservation programs. Dawa says he's happy to see their efforts have paid off.

Dawa Tsering, Tibet Program Director of WWF China said "If we go back to 20 to 40 years, there was no nature reserve, no wildlife protection law and regulations. People can freely hunt wildlife population, which decreased dramatically. Now lots of wildlife population increasing. For example, the Tibetan antelope, in 1998’s, there were only less than 50 thousand, but now I think there are more than 100 thousand."