(TibetanReview.net, Jan16’23) – Officials of a county in the Tibetan prefecture of Tsolho (Chinese: Hainan) in Qinghai Province are among those from eight county-level administrations across the People’s Republic of China (PRC) that were summoned to a meeting by the National Forestry and Grassland Administration on Jan 10 to receive warnings about the destruction of forest resources and illegal deforestation in their areas, according to China’s official chinadaily.com.cn Jan 11.
The Tibetan county, Serchen Dzong (Gonghe Xian), is located along the Tso-ngon (Qinghai) Lake and rich in grassland, used for animal husbandry. Crops such as wheat, barley, peas, potatoes, beans, oilseed and oats are also grown. Tibetans constituted 55% of its population in the PRC’s 2006 census, with Han, Hui, Mongolian and Salar ethnic groups constituting the rest.
The county is home to Huanghe Hydropower Development, the PRC’s – and possibly the world’s – largest solar power farm, with its 2.2-gigawatt facility consisting of over 7 million PV modules. The power generated here is carried to Henan province, 1,563 kilometers to the east, home to 100 million people, one of China’s most populated provinces, according to huawei.com.
At the meeting, Li Shuming, deputy head of the administration, has said that inspection and punishment for illegal deforestation were strict.
The administration was stated to have been supervising the protection and management of national forest resources by on-site inspection and satellite remote monitoring.
And Serchen Dzong was found to be one of eight places with serious problems in regard to illegal deforestation and land reclamation. Most of them are located along critical ecological regions including the Yangtze and Yellow rivers, the report said.
The others are Dingbian county in Shaanxi province; Shanzhou district in Sanmenxia city, Henan province; Horqin Right Wing Front Banner in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region; Yongding district in Longyan city, Fujian province; Qinyuan county in Shanxi province; Shizhu county in Chongqing; and Yujiang district in Yingtan city, Jiangxi province.
“Chief officials in charge of local forestry should supervise the rectification. They should clarify the division of tasks and persist in being strict with the problems,” Li has said.
The administration has said it will cooperate with the departments of natural resources, the environment and public security, as well as courts, to maintain pressure on lawbreakers.