03 November 2006
Tibet railway threatens Qinghai Lake
(AsiaNews) Shen Ji, a researcher at the Institute of Geography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Nanjing said the growing influx of tourists, linked to the construction of the new railway to Lhasa, threatened to make Qinghai Lake (Mong: Koko Nor; Tib: Tso Ngonpo ), vanish in less than a decade. The lake serves as a refuge for many endangered animals. The new railway passes near the lake and an annual 30% increase in tourist visits is anticipated. According to a Qinghai Tourism Bureau official, about 8 million people were expected to visit the province this year and most would want to visit the saltwater lake. Speaking at a conference in Nanchang, Shen said: "The upsurge in visitors would bring more rubbish. The lake cannot take anymore, and the construction of hotels and restaurants nearby would add to the contamination". However, the local authorities seem unaware of these warnings; the Tourism Bureau said, "it had no plans to restrict tourist numbers because the province's tourist sites have the potential to accommodate the increase".