Leaflet for passengers will list environmental dos and don'ts
Environmentalists are concerned that the expected tourist surge on the Qinghai-Tibet railway could harm plants and animals in one of China's largest nature reserves.
Dawa Tsering, director of world conservation body WWF's Lhasa office, said many shops in the Tibetan capital already sold wild plants as souvenirs and he was concerned the situation could worsen as tourist numbers rose.
'One of the worries is that a lot of people are coming to Tibet and that these people come here without knowledge of the wildlife, environmental protection and local culture,' Dawa Tsering said.
'The railway provides a great opportunity for economic development in Tibet, but this will also put pressure on environmental protection.'
Tsering Yangchen, a spokeswoman for the Tibetan government-in-exile's environment and development desk, said she was worried that the opening of the railway could lead to 'extensive damage to the wildlife ecosystem and a massive influx of Chinese settlers'.
Waste produced by tourists going into Tibet could also contaminate its rivers, she said.
