{"id":12138,"date":"2018-06-21T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-06-20T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/nieuws\/mass-migration-program-highlights-contested-nomads-resettlement-policies-in-tibet\/"},"modified":"2018-06-21T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-06-20T22:00:00","slug":"mass-migration-program-highlights-contested-nomads-resettlement-policies-in-tibet","status":"publish","type":"nieuws","link":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/news\/mass-migration-program-highlights-contested-nomads-resettlement-policies-in-tibet\/","title":{"rendered":"Mass migration program highlights contested nomads\u2019 resettlement policies in Tibet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"text-box wp-block-list\"><li>China has announced the displacement of more than 1,000 Tibetans from a nature reserve in northern Tibet to a settlement site in Lhasa, describing it as the first \u201chigh-altitude ecological migration\u201d. Framing the removal of Tibetans \u2013 along with other mass relocations across the Tibetan plateau \u2013 in terms of \u201cconservation and protection\u201d fundamentally disregards the essential role of Tibetans in sustaining the wildlife, the long-term health of the ecosystems, and the water resources that China and Asia depend upon.<\/li><li>The state media also reported that fencing previously used to control and prevent movement of people across nomadic pastures in the reserve will now be removed \u2013 to ensure Tibetan antelopes can roam freely, not Tibetan herders. The fencing of the grasslands, an integral element of policy, had affected the mobility of the antelopes, which Tibetan nomads risked and sacrificed their lives to save in the 1990s when they were threatened with extinction due to poaching.<\/li><li>The \u201cecological migration\u201d program is part of a new approach to set up national parks on the Tibetan plateau, contingent upon the removal of Tibetans from the land. National park status is imposed from the top-down, situating the state as the sole agency of control, and ignoring the concerns and expertise of local people. These policies are increasingly contested even within the PRC.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image wp-image-7672\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/motorcade-600x336.jpg\" alt=\"Tibet - Nomad ressetlement\" class=\"wp-image-7672\"\/><figcaption>The Chinese state media featured this image of a motorcade of coaches carrying Tibetans being displaced from a township in the Qiangtang nature reserve area to Lhasa. Xinhua, June 20, 2018.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In what the Chinese authorities describe as the \u201cfirst high-altitude resettlement project for \u2018ecological migrants\u2019 in Tibet\u201d,<span style=\"color: #c03100;\"><sup>[<\/sup><sup>1]<\/sup><\/span> more than 1,000 Tibetans have been moved out of the vast Changtang (Chinese: Qiangtang) area, according to the Chinese state media, which published images of elderly Tibetans boarding yellow coaches to take them to a resettlement encampment. The Qiangtang National Nature Reserve is one of three major nature reserves stretching across the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and Qinghai, and the resettlement appears to be consistent with plans of mass migration announced in 2017 to relocate about 130,000 people over the next three years.<span style=\"color: #c03100;\"><sup>[2]<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Xinhua also reported this week that workers had begun dismantling pasture fences in the Qiangtang National Nature Reserve in the Tibet Autonomous Region \u201cto protect Tibetan antelopes and other rare animals in the reserve\u201d.<span style=\"color: #c03100;\"><sup>[<\/sup><sup>3]<\/sup><\/span> Dechen Lhundrup, deputy head of the county forestry police, was cited as saying: \u201cThanks to the relocation of local residents to Lhasa, the fences are no longer needed.\u201d The fencing was an integral element of China\u2019s land-use policies in the grasslands; the habitat and mobility of migratory Tibetan antelopes have been threatened by large-scale poaching and fencing of the grasslands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In describing the Tibetans being relocated as \u201cecological migrants\u201d, China seeks to convey the impression that its policies are aimed at environmental conservation, climate change adaptation and mitigation. Removing nomadic pastoralists from the grasslands they have protected for centuries is framed by the Chinese leadership in terms of environmental protection \u2013 although the opposite is the case. Tens of thousands of Tibetan nomads have been settled despite a growing scientific consensus in China and beyond that indigenous stewardship and herd mobility are essential to the health of the rangelands and help to mitigate climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Matteo Mecacci, President of the International Campaign for Tibet, said, \u201cThe Chinese government policy of mass relocation of Tibetan nomads, continues to fall short of meeting international human rights standards, by not involving Tibetan nomads in the decision making process and therefore represents a concrete threat to the existence of an ancient civilization. The Chinese government also falsely portrays these efforts as aimed at preserving Tibet\u2019s environment, while it is crystal clear that the biggest threats to Tibet\u2019s fragile ecosystem is certainly not posed by Tibetan nomads, but by Beijing development policies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the case of the iconic Tibetan antelopes (Tibetan: ts\u00f6), which were once Class One Protected Species under China\u2019s national legislation, their number plunged from one million to as few as 65,000-72,500 by the mid-1990s.<span style=\"color: #c03100;\"><sup>[<\/sup><sup>4]<\/sup><\/span> In recent years, the antelope population has increased, according to a report by International Union for Conservation of Nature.<span style=\"color: #c03100;\"><sup>[<\/sup><sup>5]<\/sup><\/span> They were protected primarily by the Tibetan nomads of and nearby pastures risking \u2013 and losing \u2013 their lives to protect the antelopes from hunters.<span style=\"color: #c03100;\"><sup>[<\/sup><sup>6]<\/sup><\/span> This was documented in the movie, \u2018Kekexili: Mountain Patrol\u2019.<span style=\"color: #c03100;\"><sup>[7]<\/sup> <\/span>In 2015, China in fact announced that because their numbers had increased, the Tibetan antelope was no longer an endangered species.<span style=\"color: #c03100;\"><sup>[<\/sup><sup>8<\/sup><sup>]<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The developments follow a controversial decision a year ago to give the bordering area of Hoh Xil (Tibetan: Achen Gangyap) nature reserve UNESCO World Heritage status, despite concern about the displacement of Tibetan nomads from their pastures to urban areas across the plateau.<span style=\"color: #c03100;\"><sup>[<\/sup><sup>9]<\/sup><\/span> The UNESCO World Heritage Committee reconvenes for its annual session next week (June 24-July 4) in Bahrain, and Tibet will once again be on the agenda, this time regarding the threat to Lhasa\u2019s cultural heritage.<span style=\"color: #c03100;\"><sup>[<\/sup><sup>1<\/sup><sup>0]<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The role of Tibetans, particularly nomads, in preservation of the land and its wild animals, and the need for their free movement, was recognized by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee and international conservation body the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) during discussion last year over the status of the Hoh Xil nature reserve, which adjoins the Changtang in the Tibet Autonomous Region.<span style=\"color: #c03100;\"><sup>[11]<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A Xinhua report justifies the relocation of the more than 1,000 Tibetans from two villages in the Qiangtang region by citing deputy head of the regional forestry bureau Dzongga saying: \u201c\u2018In the previous location, there are little oxygen and public facilities, and life expectancy is lower than the region\u2019s average.\u2019 [\u2026]The relocation program [to a lower altitude area] helps to improve local people\u2019s lives and reduce human activities that might harm the fragile environment in the nature reserve, Dzongga said.\u201d<span style=\"color: #c03100;\"><sup>[<\/sup><sup>1<\/sup><sup>2]<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many of the Tibetans relocated from the Changtang may welcome relocation to an area with facilities in Lhasa; images in the state media showed them queuing to see a doctor the day after arrival. But in the systematic drive towards urbanisation and settling a predominantly rural population in Tibetan areas, their future can be precarious, with no guarantee of future livelihoods for Tibetan nomads who are removed to urban areas. In relocations across the plateau, Tibetan nomads who are compelled to settle have not been granted compensation or future security of livelihood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Indicating the continued emphasis on nomad settlement in the TAR, a new set of figures released by the authorities indicated a year on year decrease of 4 per cent on the livestock population.<span style=\"color: #c03100;\"><sup>[1<\/sup><sup>3]<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">New policies emphasize vast areas of Tibet to be national parks<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The relocation of Tibetans from Qiangtang National Nature Reserve follows news last year of a ban on visitors to the area, according to an article in the English-language state media publication Global Times.<span style=\"color: #c03100;\"><sup>[14]<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Last year it was announced that vast areas of Tibet will be turned into \u2018national parks\u2019 \u2013 contingent upon the removal of Tibetans from their ancestral lands. An official report stated that 61 different nature reserves and national parks would be created in the TAR, covering more than 800,000 square kilometers. (August 25, 2017).<span style=\"color: #c03100;\"><sup>[15]<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The announcement of the establishment of national parks in vast areas of Tibet rich in wildlife and biodiversity was based on the instructions of Xi Jinping on \u201cecological civilization\u201d.<span style=\"color: #c03100;\"><sup>[16]<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">China Daily confirmed the aim to displace people in the area when it stated that a Third Pole National Park would be established \u201cin the future after human interference is eliminated and the wild animal population increases.\u201d<span style=\"color: #c03100;\"><sup>[<\/sup><sup>17]<\/sup><\/span> A settled population is easier for the Party authorities to control and administer. While Tibetans are locked out, security police are free to come and go in these areas. According to the Regulations of the People\u2019s Republic of China on Nature Reserves: \u201cThe public security organ of the region where the nature reserves are located may set up its dispatched agency within the nature reserves to maintain public security if necessary.\u201d<span style=\"color: #c03100;\"><sup>[18]<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In recent years, serious concerns about this policy direction have been raised within the PRC, as well as internationally. A growing number of Chinese professors and rangelands experts have become increasingly critical of government policies, arguing that a series of policy mistakes has caused overgrazing and degradation in Tibet\u2019s grasslands \u2013 not the nomadic pastoralists themselves. More than 200 research papers have been published in China documenting scientific findings that no longer confirm the dominant official narrative by the Chinese leadership.<span style=\"color: #c03100;\"><sup>[1<\/sup><sup>9]<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The notion of Tibet as an \u201cecological civilization\u201d is connected to the strategic importance of Tibet and its landscape, now framed officially as an \u201cEco-environmental Security Shelter\u201d.<span style=\"color: #c03100;\"><sup>[<\/sup><sup>20]<\/sup><\/span> This is effectively an acknowledgement of Tibet\u2019s strategic importance as the earth\u2019s Third Pole, the largest repository of fresh water outside the North and South Poles, and a global climate change epicenter.<span style=\"color: #c03100;\"><sup>[21]<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most of China\u2019s nature reserves are on the Tibetan plateau; upgrading to a national park not only has a higher status but is intended to give greater protection and investment in staff and programs to protect the natural values for which the area is famous. As the references to \u201cecological migration\u201d, however, make clear, this also implies greater restrictions for the local Tibetan population, particularly nomads and herders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">China has failed to provide adequate answers to the charges of extensive rights violations in its process of relocating Tibetans, ranging from the absence of consultation to the failure to provide adequate compensation, both of which are required under international law for evictions to be legitimate. In this case, as with others, there is no indication of free, prior and informed consent of the relocated Tibetans, as required by international law. Given the repressive policies of the Chinese authorities in Tibet, and past observations with regard to relocations of Tibetan herders and nomads, it is highly unlikely that their rights have been respected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tibetan herders in Qinghai made a rare appeal to the Chinese authorities last year after being banned from their traditional grazing grounds, saying that the orders were illegal in the context of Chinese law. The nomads, from a Tibetan area of Qinghai (Amdo) were forced to leave their summer pastures, with large fines being imposed on those who refused and threats of imprisonment. Referring to the issue of future livelihoods, the nomads wrote in a petition: \u201cTaking away citizens\u2019 rights to pastureland is against the constitution, against national and local laws, and a major cause of damage to peoples\u2019 livelihood and way of life.\u201d<span style=\"color: #c03100;\"><sup>[22<\/sup><sup>]<\/sup> <\/span>The petition gave six cogent reasons why the nomads should not be removed from their summer pastures, including that there is no reason to take pastoralists off the land to achieve \u201ca moderately prosperous society for the masses\u201d, a goal of economic development that has been stated by the authorities. The Tibetans argue that if this is the objective, \u201cThe output generated by the existing nomadic means of livelihood based on the rearing of cattle needs to be the basis. This needs to be supported by modern science. Opportunities to expand livestock commerce, butter and cheese production, markets for spun and woven yak wool, hair etc., need to be provided based on the need of today\u2019s people, rather than moving the pastoralist population into towns and cities where they will become like \u201cdeer in the fog\u201d, bereft of livelihood or life-direction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"footnote wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Footnotes<\/strong><br><strong>[1]<\/strong>  Global Times, \u2018Over 1,000 Tibetans relocate from nature reserve to  Lhasa\u2019, June 19, 2018, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.globaltimes.cn\/content\/1107477.shtml\">http:\/\/www.globaltimes.cn\/content\/1107477.shtml<\/a><br><strong>[2] <\/strong>The  Forestry Department of the TAR published some alarming statistics on  removal of herders and farmers from their land, stating: \u201cSince this  year (2017), Tibet Autonomous Region has been carrying out ecological  relocation to farmers and herdsmen living in the ecological functional  area above 4500 meters above sea level. [The authorities] plan to  relocate about 130,000 people over the next three years\u201d. \u201cChina  Forestry Network\u201d, September 1, 2017, \u201c\u897f\u85cf41\u4e07\u5e73\u65b9\u516c\u91cc\u571f\u5730\u6210\u4e3a\u81ea\u7136\u4fdd\u62a4\u533a\u201d,  <a href=\"http:\/\/www.forestry.gov.cn\/main\/441\/content-1022657.html\">http:\/\/www.forestry.gov.cn\/main\/441\/content-1022657.html<\/a><br><strong>[3]<\/strong>  Xinhua, \u2018Fences dismantled in Tibetan nature reserve\u2019, June 16, 2018,  http:\/\/www.xinhuanet.com\/english\/2018-06\/16\/c_137258788.htm. Also see:  Xinhua, \u2018Relocation changing lives on the Tibetan plateau\u2019, June 20,  2018, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.xinhuanet.com\/english\/2018-06\/20\/c_137267981_2.html\">http:\/\/www.xinhuanet.com\/english\/2018-06\/20\/c_137267981_2.html<\/a><br><strong>[4]<\/strong>  According to IUCN, \u201cThe population underwent a severe decline in the  1980s and early 1990s as a result of commercial poaching for the  valuable underfur, leading to an estimated 65,000-72,500 by the  mid-1990s (George B Schaller, \u2018Wildlife of the Tibetan Steppe\u2019, July  1998, University of Chicago Press).\u201d IUCN further noted that rigorous  protection has been enforced since then, with George B Schaller later  suggesting there may be 100,000 in 2008. See: IUCN Red List for  threatened species at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.iucnredlist.org\/details\/15967\/0\">http:\/\/www.iucnredlist.org\/details\/15967\/0<\/a>. IUCN  states: \u201cThe species was recently assessed as Near Threatened on the  Chinese National Red List of Vertebrates. It is also assessed as Near  Threatened here, because the current status can only be maintained with  continued high levels of protection in its natural range and strict  controls on trade and manufacture of the shawls made from its underfur:  any relaxation in the protection regime are predicted to result in a  rapid population decline due to commercial poaching at a rate meeting  the threshold for a threatened category.<br><strong>[5]<\/strong> Good  news for Giant Panda and Tibetan Antelope  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iucn.org\/news\/species\/201609\/four-out-six-great-apes-one-step-away-extinction-%E2%80%93-iucn-red-list\">https:\/\/www.iucn.org\/news\/species\/201609\/four-out-six-great-apes-one-step-away-extinction-%E2%80%93-iucn-red-list<\/a><br><strong>[6] <\/strong>Expert  on Tibet\u2019s environment Gabriel Lafitte writes: \u201cIt was only in the  1990s that a small bunch of Tibetans based in Drito, distressed at the  slaughter, formed a posse to hunt the hunters. Although they were  determined to confront the Chinese Muslim miner\/hunters, what legal  authority did they have? The rangers were based in Drito just east of  Kokoshili, a county (and town) whose Tibetan name means source of the  Yangtze River (Dri Chu in Tibetan). Kokoshili, to the west, was where  they had always taken their herds in summer [\u2026] In the 1990s, a miracle  happened: the Tibetans on the eastern fringes of Kokoshili mobilised,  inspiring a worldwide movement of environmentalists inspired by the  heroism of the Tibetan rangers, successfully halting and reversing the  slide to extinction.\u201d NATURAL AND CULTURAL WORLD HERITAGE in  KOKOSHILI\/HOH XIL: TIBET\u2019S EMPTY QUARTER OR HUMAN LANDSCAPE? Blog 1 of 2  on the decision facing UNESCO World Heritage Committee in the first  week of July 2017, <a href=\"http:\/\/rukor.org\/kokoshilihoh-xil\/\">http:\/\/rukor.org\/kokoshilihoh-xil\/<\/a><br><strong>[7] <\/strong>By Lu Chuan in 2004, \u201cKekexili: Mountain Patrol\u201d (Columbia Pictures\/Warner);<br><strong>[8] <\/strong>Tibetan antelope struck from endangered list <a href=\"http:\/\/www.xinhuanet.com\/english\/2015-07\/01\/c_134372291.htm\">http:\/\/www.xinhuanet.com\/english\/2015-07\/01\/c_134372291.htm<\/a><br><strong>[9] <\/strong>International  Campaign for Tibet report, \u2018Nomads in \u2018no man\u2019s land\u2019: China\u2019s  nomination for UNESCO World heritage risks imperiling Tibetans and  wildlife\u2019, June 30, 2017,  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.savetibet.org\/nomads-in-no-mans-land-chinas-nomination-for-unesco-world-heritage-risks-imperilling-tibetans-and-wildlife\/\">https:\/\/www.savetibet.org\/nomads-in-no-mans-land-chinas-nomination-for-unesco-world-heritage-risks-imperilling-tibetans-and-wildlife\/<\/a><br><strong>[10]<\/strong>  The International Campaign for Tibet will publish a report on June 25  detailing the new threats to Lhasa\u2019s heritage, coinciding with the  opening of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting.<br><strong>[11]<\/strong>  International Campaign for Tibet report, \u2018UNESCO approves controversial  World Heritage Tibet nomination despite concerns\u2019, July 7, 2017,  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.savetibet.org\/unesco-approves-controversial-world-heritage-tibet-nomination-despite-concerns\/\">https:\/\/www.savetibet.org\/unesco-approves-controversial-world-heritage-tibet-nomination-despite-concerns\/<\/a><br><strong>[12] <\/strong>\u00a0Xinhua,  \u2018Tibet relocates villagers living in high-altitude nature reserve\u2019,  June 18, 2018,  http:\/\/www.xinhuanet.com\/english\/2018-06\/18\/c_137263200.htm. The state  media article reported that: \u201cResidents from two villages located in  Qiangtang national nature reserve at an altitude of more than 5,000  meters completed their two-day journey and settled at an area 27  kilometers from the regional capital Lhasa, at an altitude of 3,800  meters.\u201d<br><strong>[13]<\/strong>  The livestock population registered 18.67 million, a year-on-year  decrease of 4 percent, according to China Tibet News, \u2018GDP of China\u2019s  Tibet reaches 30.22 billion yuan in Q1\u2019, June 13, 2018.<br><strong>[14]<\/strong> The  circular \u201cspecifically mentions that people should not pass through the  CNNR to reach two other state nature reserves\u201d, Hoh Xil and Altan Shan.  Global Times, \u2018Tibet bans crossing of nature reserve\u2019, citing Xinhua as  the source, May 6, 2017 at:  <a href=\"http:\/\/www.globaltimes.cn\/content\/1045641.shtml\">http:\/\/www.globaltimes.cn\/content\/1045641.shtml<\/a>. The November circular  appears to be a reiteration of an earlier announcement in 2015, in which  the state media underlined the intention to \u201cshare intelligence  networks\u201d among the three major nature reserves, although the circular  issued last week is the first since Hoh Xil was granted UNESCO status in  July (2017). International Campaign for Tibet report, Ban on access to  nature reserves in Tibet raises concern about Tibetan nomads at UNESCO  site\u2019, December 11, 2017,  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.savetibet.org\/ban-on-access-to-nature-reserves-in-tibet-raises-concern-about-tibetan-nomads-at-unesco-site\/\">https:\/\/www.savetibet.org\/ban-on-access-to-nature-reserves-in-tibet-raises-concern-about-tibetan-nomads-at-unesco-site\/<\/a><br><strong>[15]<\/strong> Forestry Department of the TAR, cited in: \u201c\u897f\u85cf\u7981\u6b62\u548c\u9650\u5236\u5f00\u53d1\u533a\u57df\u8d8580\u4e07\u5e73\u65b9\u516c\u91cc\uff0c\u5360\u5168\u533a\u9762\u79ef70%\u201d, http:\/\/www.thepaper.cn\/newsDetail_forward_1774568.<br><strong>[16] <\/strong>\u201cChina Tibet News\u201d, August 24, 2017, \u201c\u5b88\u62a4\u597d\u9752\u85cf\u9ad8\u539f\u8fd9\u65b9\u51c0\u571f\u201d, <a href=\"http:\/\/epaper.chinatibetnews.com\/xzrb\/html\/2017-08\/24\/content_786024.htm\">http:\/\/epaper.chinatibetnews.com\/xzrb\/html\/2017-08\/24\/content_786024.htm<\/a>.<br><strong>[17] <\/strong>\u201cChina  Daily\u201d, May 11, 2017, \u201cNational park proposed near lake reserve in  Tibetan mountains\u201d,  <a href=\"http:\/\/www.chinadaily.com.cn\/travel\/2017-05\/09\/content_29277809.htm\">http:\/\/www.chinadaily.com.cn\/travel\/2017-05\/09\/content_29277809.htm<\/a>.  According to the article, the World\u2019s Third Pole National Park will be  established within Pelgon (Chinese: Ban\u2019ge), Shentsa (Chinese: Shenzha),  Nyima (Chinese: Nima) and Tsonyi (Chinese: Shuanghu district) counties  in northern Nagchu, covering an area of 281,150 square kilometres.<br><strong>[18] <\/strong>Regulations  of the People\u2019s Republic of China on Nature Reserves, \u4e2d\u534e\u4eba\u6c11\u5171\u548c\u56fd\u81ea\u7136\u4fdd\u62a4\u533a\u6761\u4f8b  [\u5df2\u88ab\u4fee\u8ba2CLI.2.10458(EN), Decree No. 167 of the State Council, 10-09-1994  includes the following: \u201cArticle 27. Nobody may be allowed to enter the  core zone of nature reserves. If it is necessary for the residents  living in the core zone of a nature reserve to move out, the local  people\u2019s government shall make proper arrangement to have them settled  down elsewhere. Article 24. The public security organ of the region  where the nature reserves are located may set up its dispatched agency  within the nature reserves to maintain public security if necessary.  Article 25. The units, residents in the nature reserves and the  personnel allowed to enter into the nature reserves shall comply with  various regulations of administration, and subject themselves to the  management institutions of the nature reserves.\u201d<br><strong>[19]<\/strong> Tibet  specialist Gabriel Lafitte details more than 200 scientific papers  published in the PRC that support this conclusion, in a report for the  Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy, published on May 30, 2015  entitled \u201cWasted Lives: A critical analysis of China\u2019s Campaign to End  Tibetan Nomadic Lifeways\u201d,  http:\/\/tchrd.org\/wasted-lives-new-report-offer-fresh-insights-on-travails-of-tibetan-nomads\/.  Lafitte writes: \u201cWherever there are pastoralists, there is now a fresh  understanding that, far from being to blame for desertification, there  are skillful stewards of drylands whose willingness to maintain mobility  enables them to live productively and in environmentally sustainable  ways from uncertain, unpredictable climates. In China, the biggest  grassland country in the world, there are now Chinese scientists  speaking up at every opportunity for the new paradigm, explaining how  the old paradigm, of sedentarising nomads, has caused only perverse,  unintended outcomes, chiefly the land degradation that is blamed on  ignorant, uncaring, selfish nomads.\u201d In a New York Times article by  Andrew Jacobs documenting these policies, Nicholas Bequelin, the  director of the East Asia division of Amnesty International, said the  struggle between farmers and pastoralists is not new, but that the  Chinese government had taken it to a new level. \u201cThese relocation  campaigns are almost Stalinist in their range and ambition, without any  regard for what the people in these communities want,\u201d he said. \u201cIn a  matter of years, the government is wiping out entire indigenous  cultures.\u201d In: New York Times, July 11, 2015: \u201cChina Fences In Its  Nomads, and an Ancient Life Withers\u201d,  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2015\/07\/12\/world\/asia\/china-fences-in-its-nomads-and-an-ancient-life-withers.html?_r=0\">https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2015\/07\/12\/world\/asia\/china-fences-in-its-nomads-and-an-ancient-life-withers.html?_r=0<\/a>.<br><strong>[20]<\/strong>  An academic paper by Chinese scientists described this as follows: \u201cThe  Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (Tibetan Plateau) serves as an important shelter  to safeguard China\u2019s environment and ecological system. Its vast area  and lofty altitude have a strong bearing on the atmospheric circulation  and climate pattern over the plateau and its surrounding regions. With  numerous glaciers, large area of permafrost, a variety of lakes and a  dozen of large rivers, it plays an important role in water source supply  and conservation. Thanks to its vast grasslands and forests, the  plateau constitutes a major carbon sink by absorbing a large amount of  green-house gases.\u201d \u2018The Influence of Climate Change on the Function of  the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau as an Eco-environmental Security Shelter\u2019,  Bulletin of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Vol.30 No.4 2016.<br><strong>[21]<\/strong>  Encircled by high mountains and with an average elevation of 4,500  meters above sea level, the Tibetan Plateau is the largest and highest  in the world and a global biodiversity hotspot. Known as the earth\u2019s  Third Pole, it is a storehouse of freshwater and the source of the  earth\u2019s eight largest river systems, Tibet is a critical resource to the  world\u2019s 10 most densely populated nations surrounding the plateau.  Tibet is a climate change epicenter that is warming nearly three times  as fast as the rest of the earth. Its glaciers are melting, and its  permafrost disappearing. And instead of seeking to protect this fragile  high-altitude ecosystem and address the significant challenges it faces,  China\u2019s policies are reshaping the Tibetan landscape with devastating  consequences. See International Campaign for Tibet, December 3, 2015,  \u201cBlue Gold from the Highest Plateau: Tibet\u2019s water and Global Climate  Change\u201d,  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.savetibet.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/ICT-Water-Report-2015.pdf\">https:\/\/www.savetibet.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/ICT-Water-Report-2015.pdf<\/a>.<br><strong>[22]<\/strong> International  Campaign for Tibet report, \u2018Tibetan nomads make rare appeal against  removal from grasslands\u2019, September 5, 2017,  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.savetibet.org\/tibetan-nomads-make-rare-appeal-against-removal-from-grasslands\/\">https:\/\/www.savetibet.org\/tibetan-nomads-make-rare-appeal-against-removal-from-grasslands\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>China has announced the displacement of more than 1,000 Tibetans from a nature reserve in northern Tibet to a settlement site in Lhasa, describing it as the first \u201chigh-altitude ecological migration\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":12139,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"categorie":[45,691],"news_tag":[675],"class_list":["post-12138","nieuws","type-nieuws","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","categorie-inside-tibet","categorie-news","news_tag-environment"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - 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