VZCZCXRO0633
RR RUEHGH RUEHVC
DE RUEHCN #0247/01 3100247
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 060247Z NOV 09
FM AMCONSUL CHENGDU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3489
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEAEPA/EPA WASHINGTON DC
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHC/DEPT OF INTERIOR WASHINGTON DC
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 4191

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 CHENGDU 000247 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
EAP FOR OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS 
AGRICULTURE FOR USDA FOREST SERVICE WO/IP/TECHCOOP/ASIA 
INTERIOR FOR FWS INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV KGHG ENRG EMIN EAGR CH
SUBJECT: TIBET: CLIMATE CHANGE, GREEN ENERGY, MINING, POACHING, AND 
ORGANIC FARMING 
 
REF: CHENGDU 162 
 
CHENGDU 00000247  001.2 OF 004 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: Climate change is moving faster in Tibet than 
in other areas of China, and fastest at the highest elevations, 
leading the State Council to pass an ambitious plan for 
ecological protection earlier this year, Tibetan Autonomous 
Region (TAR) officials told us October 22 in Lhasa.  Glaciers 
are retreating and the climate is becoming drier in most areas. 
Yields of Tibetan medicinal plants are declining as a result. 
The TAR is pushing solar technology for disconnected "island" 
electric grids and portable cooking solutions for herders, and 
is searching for bacteria that can produce methane for fuel 
above 5,100 meters.  Hydro and geothermal remain areas of great 
potential for TAR alternative energy sources.  Officials 
emphasized strict controls on mining in the TAR, and claimed 
poaching of endangered species was not a problem.  Numerous 
greenhouses now provide abundant produce, but this may be of 
more benefit to Han than Tibetans in the TAR.  End Summary. 
 
 
 
Plans for Protecting Earth's "Third Pole" 
 
----------------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶2. (SBU) The TAR, sometimes called Earth's "third pole" for its 
vast freshwater ice reserves, encompasses an area of 1.25 
million square kilometers -- of which 34.4 percent is included 
in 45 protected environmental areas, Dr. Zhang Yongze, Director 
General of the TAR Environmental Protection Bureau told Consul 
General and PolEconOffs October 22 in Lhasa.  Earlier this year, 
the State Council passed the Tibet Ecological Security Barrier 
Protection and Construction Program, budgeting RMB 15.5 billion 
(USD 2.26 billion) for its implementation over the next 25 
years.  This year, the TAR will allocate RMB 200 million in 
grassland ecological conservation and launch pilot projects in 
five counties, he said. 
 
 
 
¶3. (SBU) Air pollution in TAR cities is very low and they enjoy 
excellent air quality 350 days per year, Zhang continued, though 
sand and dust are sometimes problems.  The number of sandstorms 
in TAR cities has decreased thanks to tree planting programs, 
with 34 fewer "sandstorm days" per year in Shigatse and 32 days 
fewer in Lhasa than 30 years ago.  The TAR is also making 
advances in sewage treatment using biochemical methods and a 
treatment plant is planned for Lhasa.  CG recommended TAR 
officials consider U.S. firms already doing work in SW China, 
such as Western Water Group (reftel). 
 
 
 
Climate Change: Glaciers, Rainfall, Tibetan Medicine 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
 
 
¶4. (SBU) "Global warming is controversial and difficult to 
grasp, but it is real," Zhang declared.  The TAR is affected 
more by global warming and the melting of glaciers than other 
part of China, especially in the high Himalayas.  Glaciers in 
the Mt. Qomolangma (Everest) area are retreating by 10-15 meters 
per year, and Tibet's glaciers in general have receded 196 
square km over the past 40 years.  The climate is getting drier 
in general, although in some places it is actually becoming more 
moist.  Lhasa's rainfall, for example, has been increasing in 
recent years.  Over the long term, however, global warming will 
reduce fresh water availability as glaciers melt, though in the 
short term most lakes in the TAR are getting bigger as water 
levels rise from melt-off, Zhang said. 
 
 
 
¶5. (SBU) In a subsequent meeting, Director of the TAR Science 
and Technology (S&T) Bureau Ma Shengjie said climate change is 
of special concern for Tibetan medicine, as many of the 200 
varieties of plants used in traditional Tibetan medicine grow at 
high altitudes where climate change is reducing crops yields. 
Plentiful rains in 2008 also led to an abundance of caterpillar 
grass (chongcao), which is collected for use in traditional 
 
CHENGDU 00000247  002.2 OF 004 
 
 
medicine by rural Tibetans, and a precipitous drop in the price 
as supply outran demand.  The TAR government is cooperating with 
the Chinese Weather Bureau and the Chinese Academy of Sciences 
to conduct research on how to reduce effects of climate change 
on the plateau, he said. 
 
 
 
Desertification, Soil Erosion 
 
----------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶6. (SBU) Desertification is occurring mainly in the TAR in the 
"one big river, two small rivers" area (yijiang lianghe), where 
the Yarlung Tsangpo, Lhasa, and Nanchu Rivers run near one 
another, Zhang said.  Tree planting programs began in the late 
1980s.  (Note: ConOffs noted numerous sand dunes piling up on 
hills between Lhasa and the airport 28 miles away.  An ethnic 
Tibetan Foreign Affairs Office (FAO) official accompanying us, 
however, said she remembered encountering these sands in 1995 
while mountain climbing.  End Note.) 
 
 
 
¶7. (SBU) Soil erosion is also quite serious in the TAR, Zhang 
continued, particularly in the eastern and southeastern areas of 
the TAR and along the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, where 
clear cutting of forests was previously allowed.  Illegal 
logging was stopped and forests are starting to grow back 
nicely.  Ma added that building earthen dams along major rivers 
is part of the first phase of an anti-erosion program included 
under the State Council's environmental plan for the TAR. 
 
 
 
Solar Power: "Island" Arrays and Foldable Cookers 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
 
 
¶8. (SBU) Since 2007 the TAR has spent RMB 5.43 million (USD 
795,000) on clean energy development in rural areas, Zhang 
reported, including promoting solar cookers, solar water 
heaters, and wind power generation facilities.  Ma added 
considerable detail, explaining that alternative energy sources 
are important in the TAR due to its large territory and 
relatively sparse population.  Some of the electric power grids 
are not interconnected and alternative energy systems are 
important for these "island" grids.  Zhang claimed the TAR has 
greater strength and consistency in solar illumination than 
anywhere but the Sahara Desert, and has great expanses of unused 
land that have potential to be exploited as solar farms. 
Particularly in remote rural areas, solar arrays of 30-100 
panels can make separate grids economically viable and avoid 
high interconnection costs, Ma said. 
 
 
 
¶9. (SBU) Foldable solar cookers that can be carried on the back 
of a yak are provided free to TAR farmers and herders, he 
continued, and solar water heaters are widely used in the TAR. 
(Note:  The S&T Bureau building itself had a large solar array 
by the entrance and a solar thermal heating system on the roof. 
End Note.)  Wind power is less reliable in the TAR, although 
tests are being conducted on small wind turbines that adjust to 
the direction of the wind, Ma added. 
 
 
 
Methane: Seeking High-Altitude Bacteria 
 
--------------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶10. (SBU) The TAR plans to add service to 20,000 households from 
stand-alone methane gas systems. A single system that requires 
only eight square meter of space can replace two truckloads of 
wood fuel per year, Ma reported.  The systems cost some RMB 
3,000 (USD 440) for materials, of which RMB 2,800 (USD 410) is 
 
CHENGDU 00000247  003.2 OF 004 
 
 
subsidized by the government.  The bacteria on which these 
systems rely, however, do not work well above an altitude of 
5,100 meters, so the S&T Bureau is researching new varieties of 
bacteria that can operate at these heights.  Preliminary results 
are positive, he said. 
 
 
 
Potential Power Sources: Hydro and Geothermal 
 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶11. (SBU) The TAR has rich hydropower potential, but it will be 
costly and time consuming to develop.  Russia has many 
hydropower stations, Ma said, but "no environmental damage." 
The TAR also has a plan to implement a program called "sending 
Tibetan electric power outside the region" (Zang dian wai song), 
and while he did not elaborate further, a recent press report 
suggests that power produced on the plateau could be sent to 
Yunnan and Sichuan. 
 
 
 
¶12. (SBU) Geothermal power is another area of great potential 
due to the TAR's active geology, but is yet to be exploited, Ma 
said.  The TAR has many hot springs and even hot rivers, some of 
which have been developed for tourism.  75 miles east of Lhasa 
is a hot spring excellent for tourism, Ma said, even better than 
Japan's famed Sanko, which he has visited. (Note: China's 
official media published a story last year saying that a thermal 
power plant in Yangba, 54 miles north of Lhasa, had already 
begun producing power for transmission to the city.  End Note.) 
 
 
 
Mining: "Strictly Controlled" in the TAR 
 
---------------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶13. (SBU) Restrictions on mining and prospecting in the TAR are 
stricter than in other parts of the PRC, Zhang stated.  TAR 
regulations prevent smaller companies from operating there, 
though larger mining operations are allowed.  In recent years, 
however, fewer permits have been granted for new mining 
projects.  Permission is required for prospecting in the TAR, 
although not in other parts of the PRC.  Gold mining was stopped 
in the TAR in 2006 due to environmental concerns, he said, and 
river panning for gold was stopped in 2008.  (Note: Post 
believes the Xizang Tianlu company still conducts gold mining in 
the TAR, while a May 2009 Radio Free Asia report described a 
confrontation at the site of a recently authorized gold mine 
near Lhasa.  A 2005 PRC press report on gold mining in the TAR 
described large areas of grassland damaged by trucks and open 
pit mining, trash, and pollution of the local water supply (URL 
tinyurl.com/goldmining-tibet).  Local people were not 
benefitting, and large numbers of outsiders at gold mines was 
seen as a source of social disorder and resentment.  End Note.) 
 
 
 
CITES: Poaching? What Poaching? 
 
------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶14. (SBU) Asked about the status of efforts to stop poaching of 
chiru or Tibetan antelope, prized for their fur used to make 
shahtoosh (the world's priciest wool), Zhang said the TAR 
government had imposed a hunting ban.  Joint inter-provincial 
enforcement patrols between the TAR and Qinghai Province have 
been so successful, he continued, that there have been no 
arrests for illegal hunting in recent years.  We asked why if 
there is no poaching can shawls woven from shahtoosh -- banned 
under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered 
Species (CITES), to which China is a party -- still be found for 
sale illegally in India?  Further, what of news reports 
(including in the Hong Kong press) that negotiations between 
India and China over efforts to protect India's tigers had 
 
CHENGDU 00000247  004.2 OF 004 
 
 
broken down when PRC officials demanded a quid pro quo on sale 
of shahtoosh in India?  Zhang reiterated China's "strong 
protections" for the chiru and other endangered animals, 
claiming no knowledge of such negotiations. 
 
 
 
Sinicization Side Effect: Fresh Veggies 
 
--------------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶15. (SBU) The TAR is now self-sufficient in vegetable production 
thanks to greenhouses, Ma said proudly.  Before 1990, no 
vegetables were grown except for carrots, potatoes, and lettuce. 
 The S&T Bureau is now training some greenhouse farmers to grow 
to organic produce standards, and the prospects for the TAR to 
become a source of organic vegetables for all of China via the 
Qinghai-Tibet railway are excellent, Ma said.  Separately, Zhang 
said 860,000 square meters of vegetable greenhouses had been set 
up with an annual output more than 3400 metric tons.  (Comment: 
Post's ethnic Tibetan LES said the diet of Lhasa's Tibetans has 
not changed substantially with the advent of fresh produce; 
rather, these vegetables feed the city's burgeoning Han 
population.  Post also finds Ma's comments on the TAR providing 
organic produced for all of China optimistic given long 
transport distances.  End Comment.) 
BROWN