The central government will allocate 15 billion yuan (US$2.2 billion) in the next 22 years to protect the ecological environment in the Tibet Autonomous Region, officials said on Thursday.

The ecological protection plan of Tibet, which will last till 2030, was approved by the State Council on February 18, Du Ying, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, said while attending a discussion of the Tibet delegation during the ongoing two sessions.

"The plan, with a total investment of 15 billion yuan, is the second ecological protection plan on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau following the plan to protect the sources of the three major rivers (Yangtze, Yellow and Lancang rivers)," he said. "It (the plan) is of great significance."

Official figures show that average temperatures in Tibet rose by 0.32 degrees centigrade every 10 years from 1961 to 2007, quicker than the global and national warming rates.

Qiangba Puncog, chairman of the government of the Tibet Autonomous Region, told China Daily that planned projects include those to protect natural grassland, forest and wetland, as well as growing forest shelter belts against gales and storms, and pasture protection against desertification.

The plan also aims at safeguarding biological diversity in Tibet and promoting the use of clean energy, he said.

Puncog said the regional government plans to build several big hydropower electricity stations on the trunk stream of the Yarlung Zangbo River, the Nujiang River, the Lancang River and the Jinsha River.

"Hydro-power is clean and can greatly ease the electricity shortage in Tibet at present," he said.

Puncog said the Zangmu hydropower Station, located in the middle reach of the Yarlung Zangbo River, is expected to start construction this year. The station, funded by Tibet Power Generation Co Ltd of China Huaneng Group, the largest power generator in the country, with a capacity of 510,000 kilowatt, will cost more than 7 billion yuan.

Meanwhile, the station on the Jinsha River at the border area of Sichuan Province, funded by China Huadian Corp, is expected to start construction next year or in 2010, Puncog said. Huaneng also has a project lined up on the Lancang River, he said.

However, Puncog said that all the projects need to get the final nod from the central government. Puncog also clarified that there is no plan to channel water from these rivers to other parts of China.

(China Daily March 6, 2009)