Yellowstone Park to be the blueprint for Chinese network of national parks, starting on Tibetan plateau
- Yellowstone, the world’s first national park, is the inspiration for China’s plan to create its own system of parks
- Chinese officials have visited US national parks and met with global conservation experts
There’s a building boom on the Tibetan plateau. Mountains long crowned by garlands of fluttering prayer flags are now topped with sprawling steel power lines. At night, the illuminated signs of Sinopec gas stations cast a red glow over newly built motorways.
Ringed by the world’s tallest mountain range, the region long known as “the rooftop of the world” is now in the cross hairs of China’s latest modernisation push, marked by multiplying skyscrapers and expanding high-speed rail lines.
But there’s a difference: this time, the Chinese government wants to set limits on the region’s growth to implement its own version of one of the US’ proudest legacies – a national park system.
In August, policymakers and scientists from China, the US and other countries convened in Xining, capital of Qinghai province, to discuss China’s plans to create a unified system with clear standards for limiting development and protecting ecosystems. Zhu Chunquan, the China representative of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, a Swiss-based scientific group, notes that the country’s economy has boomed over the past 40 years. But priorities are now expanding to include conserving the country’s key natural resources.
“It’s quite urgent to identify the places, the ecosystems and other natural features” to protect, Zhu says.