Being ecologically aware is said to be cognisant of the environment's vulnerability, and understanding the importance of its protection. Well, they're the sort of values that are being fostered on Western China's Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Indeed a newly-released white paper on ecological progress also says that green lifestyles are thriving in the region. Our reporter Tao Yuan traveled there for a first-hand look.

This now looks like a desert. Tudam's sheep don't have enough grass to eat, so his family has to move more often to find more grasslands. But things weren't always this way.

GAYER TUDAM DAMBA HERDSMAN "When I was little, the grass was so much greener and more plush. When we rode on a horse, the grass used to reach up to our feet. Now the land is so parched and dry."

The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is dubbed "Asia's Water Tower." This is where the continent's great rivers flow from, and where many call one of the world's last "pure lands". It's also the site of China's first national park, named Sanjiangyuan, which means the source of three rivers. But the grasslands are disappearing, the glaciers melting. The "roof of the world" is turning into a climate change catastrophe.

TAO YUAN ZADUO COUNTY, QINGHAI PROVINCE "National Parks, once dubbed America's best idea, is now China's latest push for a green future. The world's biggest polluter, now having a change of heart, realizing economic development shouldn't come at the cost of the environment."

It is a vast land, 13 times larger than America's Yellowstone National Park. But unlike the uninhabited Yellowstone, Sanjiangyuan is home to Tibetan nomads. Herdsmen like Xizhou and Qunan, who live the very same way their ancestors did hundreds of years ago.

XIZHOU HERDSMAN "It's a very free life, unlike life in the city. We have nomadic blood in our veins."

Environmental protection puts limits on human activities, even necessitates relocation. Conservationist Li Yuhan admits the challenge.

LI YUHAN SHANSHUI CONSERVATION CENTER "The fact that the plateau is populated by people is where this national park differs from many others elsewhere in the world. So we are still trying to figure out an effective protection model. For example, how to solve the conflict between humans and wildlife, or between conservation and economic development."

Xizhou and Qunan are now enlisted as mountain rangers. They are paid a small wage for their work, but a big emotional reward.

XIZHOU HERDSMAN "This is our land. So it's only natural for us to protect it."

For them, a government-issued white paper on ecological protection carries little meaning.

LI YUHAN SHANSHUI CONSERVATION CENTER "What they have is an inborn, very primitive desire to protect their home. That desire is very precious."

When their shift is over, Xizhou and Qunan return to their normal lives. There's almost no trace of the modern world here, just the herdsmen and their yaks, and the ways of their ancestors. TY, CGTN, on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.