Xinhua Insight: Who pays for wildlife "crime"?

For farmers and herders around Changtang nature reserve in Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China, there are two sides to the wildlife coin.

Tashi Wangyel from Nyima Township in the north of Tibet only sleeps well in the winter, while local brown bear are hibernating in caves.

Several months ago, he found more than 20 dead sheep in his yard and several others were missing. The forestry department confirmed that the killer was a brown bear.

"The wolf usually bites the sheep's neck, while bears peels the skin off their hindquarters," he said.

A growing number of herders in Tibet are having similar unwelcome encounters with wild animals, whose populations are on the increase. Tibet is home to 795 vertebrate species, 125 of which are protected.

Local governments paid 419 million yuan (about 68 million U.S. dollars) in compensation for losses caused by wildlife between 2006 and the end of 2014.

"Wolf, brown bear, snow leopard and wild yak are often troublemakers," said Mao Shiping, head of the wildlife protection office of Nagqu Prefecture. They take livestock, damage buildings and crops, and sometimes hurt people. Twelve people were killed by wild animals around the reserve in 2012.

"We do not know how to deal with protected wildlife. A bear once took over a house for three or four days. Finally, we used firecrackers and strong lights to scare it away," Tashi Wangyel said, adding that he does not allow his children or parents to stay at home alone.

COMPENSATION PROGRAMS

Tashi Wangyel was lucky. Tibet's government has a compensation program for losses caused by wild animals. The amount of compensation varies according to the value of the livestock.

Tashi Wangyel received 250 yuan for each sheep, but an adult sheep sells for roughly 700 yuan in local markets.

Legally, local governments must compensate victims wildlife "crime" but most local governments have no compensation standards or specific budget, so enforcement has been poor.

The Siberian tiger, one of the world's most endangered animals, can be a big troublemaker in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

Last November, a tiger took dozens of goats for Guo's farm, but he did not report the incident.

"There is no compensation program in the province, so we just have to put up with it," he told Xinhua.

Hundreds of such cases are reported each year in Heilongjiang and losses are substantial.

"Many local governments are neither willing nor able to pay," said Jiang Guangshun, executive deputy director of the state feline research center.

It can be difficult for local governments to pay compensation due to economic pressure. The challenge is to find creative solutions that protect wild animals, as well as the people who share the land with them, he added.

CREATIVE SOLUTION

Southwest China's Yunnan Province may have the answer, at least in part. Wild elephants pillage or trample crops, damage trees and houses and are a threat to people's lives.

From 2005 to 2013 in Yunnan 1,324 deaths and about 390 million yuan of losses were attributed to wild animals .

In 2010, Yunnan began to purchase commercial insurance for people in some regions. The government pays the premiums, and the insurers investigate and compensate people when animals cause trouble. The commercial mechanism is clearly more effective. Compensation is higher and paid more quickly.

As the environment has improved, more of these cases are likely, said Zhang Minghai of Northeast Forestry University.

One way to help humans and wildlife co-exist and thrive in harmony is to maintain the integrity of protected parks, but if "tragedies" do happen, someone should be responsible, said Zhang.

"A sustainable future depends on the health of both the ecosystem and the people," he said. Enditem

(Xinhua correspondents Wang Kai and Xin Linxia contribute to the sto