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Northwest China's Qinghai Lake Shringking
Vast Qinghai Lake, which literally means "blue sea", inspired the province's name. It's a holy body of water for the local Tibetans.
Many birds also find the lake a heavenly home. The rich resources of fish and grass in the lake attract hundreds of thousands of migratory birds each year.
However, the lake is gradually losing much of its majesty.
Li Ruofan, Vice Director of Qinghai Lake State Nature reserve said:"According to statistics from the 1960's, Qinghai Lake covered an area of four hundred and sixty thousand hectares. Now, it is 30 percent smaller. The number of birds has also dropped."
The water level is now dropping by 12 centimetres every year. This means the lake is contracting by about 100 metres a year. The bird sanctuary, "bird island," is now connected to the mainland.
Local environmentalists blame the lake's shrinking on over-grazing by livestock herders around the lake. They believe the large number of animals is a great threat to the area.
Li said:"Animal husbandry has destroyed much of the grassland. The grasslands around the lake have decreased by 40 percent in the past three decades. The denuded bank doesn't contain water anymore. It has accelerated the shrinkage of the lake."
The lake is encircled by two million hectares of grassland, forming a bread basket for a great number of livestock. Since most of the local residents live on animal husbandry, the number of livestock in the Qinghai lake area has reached three million. The grasslands here can only support a maximum of two million.
Sixty-two-year-old Cairangji has been herding around the lake for 50 years.
A local people said:"I used to have four hundred sheep. There was enough grass for them. But now I have seven hundred, there's not enough grass so they have to eat the roots. But then the grass won't grow again if the roots are eaten."
The local government is getting alarmed by the looming environmental disaster. They have issued regulations to limit the number of livestock in the lake area. And efforts are also being made to restore the grassland.
However, some environmentalists say it will be difficult to stop the shrinking of the lake. They say global warming is also to blame. It has resulted in low precipitation but high evaporation. If this trend continues, local people can only wait and watch as their heavenly lake withers away.
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