Tibet pollution 'minor'

TIBET'S ecology remains healthy because its emerging township industries have not caused a significant pollution problem, a survey says.

The survey, conducted by the Township Industry Pollution Source Surveying Office of Tibet, found that only 128 out of more than 1,000 township firms in Tibet were polluting the environment and the damage was minor.

It also found the firms emitted a total each year of 450,000 tonnes of waste water, 11,000 cubic metres of waste gas, 690 tonnes of sulphur dioxide and 2,000 tonnes of dust, Xinhua reported.

The office stressed that this amount of industrial waste was by far the lowest in China and could decompose locally because of Tibet's immense land area of 1.2 million square kilometres.

Analysts said the Xinhua dispatch showed Beijing was trying to allay foreign concerns that its drive to develop Tibet's economy might pollute the relatively unspoiled landscape.

Luosang Pingcuo, head of Tibet's Bureau of Environmental Protection, stressed that the regional Government would not sacrifice the ecology for the sake of economic development.

The bureau will introduce environmental protection laws, strengthen supervision of township firms and help them to upgrade their facilities, Mr Luosang Pingcuo said.