People's livelihood in autonomous region boosted by high-quality, sustainable development efforts

In Southwest China's Xizang autonomous region, the area's pristine natural environment and brilliant culture are precious assets that the locals are truly proud of.

In recent years, Xizang has made further efforts in protecting the local environment and culture, aiming to make these assets more conducive to balanced, high-quality and sustainable socioeconomic development.

The "peach blossom village" of Kala in Nyingchi, the Yani wetland at the confluence of Yarlung Zangbo and Nyangchu rivers, the South and North Mountains in Lhasa and Lhokha, and the millennia-old street of Barkor in Lhasa are all prime examples of how the protection and development of ecological and cultural assets can bring visible benefits to local residents and enrich their sense of happiness, gain and security.

Peach blossom village

In the city of Nyingchi, nestling in the Nyangchu River valley, Kala village is now a famed destination among tourists for its reputation as the "Jiangnan of the snowy region".

Jiangnan is a reference to the prosperous regions south of the Yangtze River.

More than 1,200 wild peach trees make up 18 hectares of peach blossom groves in Kala. When spring arrives, the trees bloom one after another, covering the mountainside in a shade of rosy pink. The picturesque spring scenery of this snowy region has earned Kala the title of Xizang's "peach blossom village".

The village is also the host of Nyingchi's peach blossom tourism and culture festival.

But about two decades ago, none of the locals realized the peach trees and flowers could be a resource for developing tourism and generating revenue.

"The peach trees have been here for hundreds of years and I was told the oldest one is more than 600 years old," said Dawa Gyaltsen, a local resident. "In my childhood, though, people never associated them with revenue."

But tourists from the rest of the country visited Kala by chance and were immediately enchanted by the beautiful blossoms, the scenery of the village and its vicinity, said Penpa, head of the village. He added that their word of mouth brought in an increasing number of visitors in the years to come.

"Kala first hosted the peach blossom festival back in 2002," Penpa recalled. "At that time, pigs and cattle still roamed freely around the village, residents would set up stalls in a chaotic fashion, and the village looked quite rundown. For 10 years, the festival didn't create any practical benefit."

In 2014, Kala moved to build its brand as a "peach blossom village" and began renovations to improve the appearance of the village, according to Penpa.

It promoted afforestation and greening, renovated courtyards, paved roads, and put plumbing and wiring underground.

When the transformation was complete, tourists began to flock to the village. Revenue from tourism grew year upon year, allowing residents to move toward prosperity by relying on the tourism industry.

In recent years, Kala began to further expand its tourism industry by developing its "tourism-plus" growth model, Penpa said.

It has built farms for sightseeing and fruitpicking, upgraded local farm stays, developed cultivation bases for other species of flowers, created programs for experiencing local customs, and introduced innovative products related to local culture while also developing specialty food made with peach blossoms.

In seeing the expanding tourism industry and growing revenue, residents have come to realize a good ecological environment is crucial for local growth, according to Nyima Dorje, another village official. "Their enthusiasm for promoting environmental conservation and protecting the ecosystem has become stronger than ever," he said.

Since 2021, Kala has received more than 285,000 tourist visits, garnering a total tourism revenue of more than 9.33 million yuan ($1.31 million). "The revenue means an additional income of nearly 200,000 yuan to each household on average," Nyima Dorje said.

The official said the blooming period of peach trees is about one month. "So we have created more channels for increasing villagers' incomes, like founding an entity for transportation, and organizing residents to offer labor service for the Sichuan-Xizang Railway that is under construction," Nyima Dorje said.

Local statistics show that the total income of Kala village reached 13.02 million yuan in 2023, which translates to 36,700 yuan in terms of per capita disposable income.

Yani wetland

Not far from Kala village is the confluence of the Nyangchu and Yarlung Zangbo rivers. The area is home to one of the largest wetland reserves in Nyingchi — Yani National Wetland Park.

Covering a total area of 6,973 hectares, the wetland park boasts rich biodiversity, with more than 200 species of wild animals, according to Jiang Wentao, an official at the Dragyib district bureau of forest and grassland in Nyingchi, an institution responsible for the management of the park.

He said things were different a decade ago. "The area was sparsely vegetated. It became dusty on windy days," he recalled.

The official said changes began to happen in 2009 when Yani National Wetland Park started trial operation, and the critical turning point came in 2016 when a wetland restoration program was launched by the administration center of the park.

"Since 2016, a total of 154 million yuan has been invested in ecological recovery, infrastructure construction and research," Jiang said. "We have established a national-level wetland ecosystem monitoring station here and hired 45 locals as wetland patrollers."

Sangye Phuntsok is one of the patrollers. He inspects the wetlands by riding a motorcycle and walking every day. "I patrol around the park three to four times a day, from 9 am to 8 pm," Sangye Phuntsok said.

He said he is happy to have the job, which offers him a stable stream of revenue.

"I'm also glad to see the environment improve at the wetland park, which is becoming a habitat for more animals," he added.

Tsering Drolma, head of the administration center of Yani National Wetland Park, said the park is bringing both environmental and economic benefits to the locals.

The improved environment has attracted flocks of birds to the park, which has become an ideal site to observe rare bird species. As a result, tourists also arrived in their hordes. "The park receives hundreds of thousands of tourists every year, bringing in millions of yuan in tourism revenue," the official said.

She added that by profiting from tourism by selling farm produce or running rural inns, the local residents have become staunch advocates for wetland protection.

"We are trying to build Yani National Wetland Park into a shared green space that integrates wetland conservation, ecological improvement, leisurely sightseeing, science popularization and environmental education, and to unleash the green development potential," Tsering Drolma said.

Afforestation project

Several hundreds of kilometers away from Nyingchi and on the upper reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River, a massive afforestation project is underway in Lhasa and its neighboring Lhokha city, bringing unexpected joy to local residents.

More people in Lhasa, the capital city of Xizang, are enjoying tours of Nanshan Park. They like to stand on the hilltops and have a view of the Potala Palace and the city, under the blue sky dotted with white clouds.

Chodron, a Lhasa resident, said a trip to the park can give people a clear picture of how the environment has improved in Lhasa and its neighboring areas in recent years.

"Over two years, the once barren mountains are now cloaked in lush greenery and the overall appearance of Lhasa has improved a lot," Chodron said. "While there are more trees in the mountains and gullies, there is more oxygen and the air is more humid," she said.

What makes this change possible is Xizang's efforts to afforest its land in recent years, especially the project in the South and North Mountains in Lhasa and Lhokha, which was launched on a massive scale in 2021.

The South and North Mountains projectwhich is known as Nanbeishan Greening Project among locals — is Xizang's first largescale tree-planting project implemented in the high-altitude mountainous areas.

Planting trees in Xizang, especially in highaltitude areas of more than 3,900 meters, is a challenging task, according to local officials.

Lhasa began its tentative efforts in greening mountains in 2012, with Nanshan Park, which stands at the southern side of the Lhasa River, as a pilot project.

Building on the success of the Nashan Park tree planting, local officials are aiming for a higher goal — transforming this region into a place with a more livable environment by adding nearly 140,000 hectares of trees on the South and North Mountains in 10 years.

Wang Shangde, deputy chief of the Lhasa forestry and grassland bureau, said he is very optimistic about this greening project on high-altitude mountains because available statistics show a surprisingly high survival rate of trees planted in the past years.

"Statistics show that trees had been planted on an area of 26,000 hectares in Lhasa during 2022 and 2023, with a survival rate of above 85 percent," Wang said.

He explained that this is the result of local researchers' efforts in afforestation research.

"Afforestation research is a comprehensive project," Wang said. "It involves great efforts in breeding and selecting the right tree varieties, and analyzing the geological conditions, atmospheric temperature, soil humidity and amount of sunlight on plant growth."

Over the past decade, researchers have bred and selected dozens of tree varieties suitable for the region, used remote sensing technologies to analyze natural conditions and installed intelligent, water-conserving devices for irrigation, according to Wang.

Similar survival rates have also been reported in Lhokha city. Tsering Norbu, a local afforestation engineer, said the rate on the greening sites near the Gonggar Airport has reached 92 percent.

New lease on life

While the Nanbeishan Greening Project is giving refreshed vitality to Lhasa, the city's oldest street of Barkor has also been given a new lease on life because of its flourishing tourism and booming commerce.

Surrounding the 1,300-year-old Jokhang Temple, Barkor Street has been one of the cultural and commercial hubs of Lhasa for many centuries. As its name suggests — Barkor in Tibetan language means "central rings" — Barkor is a labyrinth of 35 streets circling the famed Buddhist monastery in the city.

Inside Jokhang, there are many cultural relics telling the long history of the temple. One of them is a statue of the Sakyamuni Buddha, which was brought to Xizang — known as Tibet in the past — by the famed Tang Dynasty (618-907) Princess Wencheng. Wencheng arrived in Lhasa for a historic marriage with the Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo.

In addition to the temple, another significant historical monument in the area is a stone stele marking the alliance between the Tang Dynasty and the Kingdom of Tibet, which was built in 828.

In the center of Lhasa, Barkor is home to 56 ancient residential courtyards featuring Tibetan-style buildings.

With a wealth of historical assets, Barkor has developed into a popular destination for tourists, thanks to the local authorities' efforts in protecting local cultural heritage.

Old as it is, Barkor features openness and inclusiveness nowadays, embracing tourists and commerce from all over the world.

It is not just a holy ritual route for pilgrims, it also has a reputation as a paradise for tourists, where delicate Tibetan foods and commodities are served at its 4,000-plus dining and shopping outlets.

On the street, visitors can have easy access to both local handmade commodities and goods from the rest of the country and the world. Gradually, Barkor has been widely accepted as the most vibrant area in Lhasa or even Xizang.