No Tibetan flora or fauna have suffered extinction to date, an
official with the region's environmental protection bureau said on
Wednesday.
Many endangered species were under special state protection, he
said. Red deer, generally considered by the international animal
research community to have vanished, were spotted again in
Tibet.
Biodiversity in
Tibet was effectively protected, and biological variety was
secure.
Statistics showed that there are more than 6,400 higher plants,
over 2,300 species of insects, 799 species of wild vertebrates and
nearly 125 varieties of wild animals under state special
protection, accounting for one third of the state specially
protected wildlife.
Establishing nature reserves is an important method adopted by
Tibet to reinforce the work for ecological improvement and
environment protection.
Since 1996, the central government has spent 368 million yuan
(about US$44.3 million) in ecological construction in the Tibet
autonomous region. Tibet has set up eight state and regional nature
reserves, making one third of Tibet an enclave for plants and
wildlife.
Local government has also set up series of organizations working on
environmental supervision and law implementation. Local media and
schools also participated in protecting Tibet's biodiversity.
(Xinhua News Agency June 4, 2003)