China's Qinghai Province has drawn ecological "red lines" for over 40 percent of its territory, putting the areas under stringent environmental protection.
Located on the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, the northwestern province is known for its fragile ecosystem and for being home to the Sanjiangyuan area, where the Yangtze, Yellow, and Lancang rivers originate. Lancang is known as the Mekong River as it flows through five Southeast Asian nations.
Scenery of the Sanjiangyuan Area in northwest China's Qinghai-Xizang Plateau. /CFP
The "water tower" province has now designated 296,400 square kilometers as areas within ecological protection "red lines," said a recently issued document on Qinghai's spatial planning toward 2035.
Natural reserves have been established in more than 90 percent of the "red line" areas, according to the document.
China has innovatively applied an ecological protection red-line system, which protects certain areas from industrial and urban development. The country aims to keep the national ecological protection red-line area above 3.15 million square kilometers.
By drawing the red lines, the Qinghai plan aims to improve the local ecological environment, its function as a carbon sink, and its ability to supply clean water to downstream areas.