China constructs its first national park leaving local Tibetans in turmoil
Large-scale land grab continues with threats and unpaid compensation
Location of Sanjiangyuan National Park and Qilian Mountain National Park in China’s new National Parks System Image source: CGTN
Tibetan nomads have not been paid compensation promised to them having been forcefully evicted from their ancestral homeland to make way for a national park. A scuffle broke out between the Tibetan families and Chinese authorities on 10 November 2021 at the park construction site in Domda village, resulting in threats against the Tibetan villagers.
A local source spoke under the condition of anonymity and explained further, “No one was allowed to record any videos or take photos of the commotion, and no one was hurt. However, this land issue has become very critical now, and all construction work has been halted for the time being.”
“Similar construction activities began last year at Tsakok, another village in Yulshul Prefecture, but there are no details about its current condition. However, a private company is involved in this case and the government has injected a huge amount for this project," said the same source.
The large-scale land grab of Zamar (རྫ་དམར།), Karchen (སྐར་ཆེན།) and Sumdho (སུམ་མདོ།) areas of Domda Township in Yushul Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai took place a few years ago without any consultation with the Tibetan nomads. These areas of scenic beauty are part of the Three Rivers Source National Park, which was expected to open last year as the first of ten pilot projects under China’s new National Park System. Spanning 123,000-square kilometres, the Yellow, Yangtze, and Mekong rivers originate from The Three River Source National Park and flow downstream serving at least 900 million people. Combined with Dola (Ch: Qinling) National Park, they cover 31 per cent of the total landmass of Qinghai Province.
While the opening of the park still remains delayed, previous reports received from sources describe the turmoil in many areas of Qinghai. Tibet Watch reported that from around August 2020 Grassland Use Certificates were being seized in the Chengdu county of Kyegudo. Radio Free Asia reported that a meeting was held by Themchen County authorities on 3 Sept 2020 to order around 4000 nomads from Muru (མུ་རུ།), Suru (སུ་རུ།), and Kyungdruk (ཁྱུང་འབྲུག་ཡུལ་ཚོ།) Townships in Themchen (ཐེམ་ཆེན།) County in Tsonub Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture to agree to relocation to NaKormo (ན་གོར་མོ།)City. Their homeland falls in the centre of an area marked for the construction of Dola National Park, where Chinese mining companies had been operating illegally.
Similar reasons of ecological protection and construction projects were given by Chinese authorities in Gangya Tse-U (རྒན་གྱའི་རྩེ་དབུས།) village of Sangchu County in Kanlho Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture to impose a new limit on livestock reared by nomads. Only 8 to 10 animals per individual were allowed for the nomadic community, resulting in Tibetans expressing disagreement and five being arrested.
The mass relocation continues to be a contentious crisis, which Chinese and international experts have repeatedly criticised for its flawed rationale. Contrary to the purported goal and state narrative of ecological civilisation that the Xi Jinping government is widely promoting, the displacement of nomads from these areas is enforced at the cost of destroying centuries-old sustainable nomadic lifestyle which has helped maintain Tibet’s ecosystem intact. With temperatures warming two to four times faster than the global average on the Tibetan plateau, these areas have witnessed repeated floods and massive landslides in the last few years exacerbated by dam construction and extraction of mineral resources.