Society

Long-term Wetland Protection Mechanism

Starting from this year， Tibet will invest RMB 48 million or more over the next three years in an eco-compensation system to rehabilitate local wetlands. A trial program will be rolled out respectively in Xainza County of Nagqu Prefecture， Dinggye County of Xigaze Prefecture， and Nagarze County of Shannan Prefecture to compensate any losses farmers and herders might incur due to wetland preservation. It will also encourage them to work with professionals to manage and protect wetlands.

At present Tibet has 6.53 million hectares of wetlands， accounting for 5.3 percent of its land mass， mainly concentrated in Nagqu and Nagri， where there are 2.993 million hectares. As site of Chinas second largest wetlands area， Tibet has in recent years ratcheted up protection efforts by establishing nature reserves， wetland parks， and other sanctuaries. These efforts have expanded the regions wetlands by 524，200 hectares over the past decade， an increase of 8.7 percent.

During the 12th Five-Year Plan period（2011-2015）， Tibet spent RMB 7.1 billion on 10 massive eco-security projects and RMB 14.7 billion on eco-subsidies and ecocompensation. The autonomous region also made extensive progress on afforestation of the Yarlung Zangbo， Ngulchu， Lhasa， Nyangchu， Sengye， Khabap， and Nyakchu river banks. These endeavors have significantly improved the quality of Tibets water， air， and soil.

China Mobile Joins International Telecom Giants4G Fusion， Exploration of 5G Ecosystem

Leading global telecom operators， including China Mobile， Vodafone， Bharti Airtel， and SoftBank， have joined hands to launch GTI 2.0， a new five-year program whose aim is to advance global development of TD-LTE， encourage their convergence， and foster a cross-industry innovative and synergistic 5G ecosystem.

Founded in 2011， GTI has become an influential cooperation platform with 122 operators and 103 industrial partners. It completed the GTI 1.0 mission by building an end-to-end TD-LTE ecosystem and achieving global TD-LTE commercialization， as well as a converged network that uses both TDD and FDD LTE technology.

At the end of December 2015 there were 76 TD-LTE commercial networks in 43 countries and 91 TD-LTE networks in progress， with a total of 1.4 million TD-LTE base stations serving 470 million subscribers globally.

China Mobile， the worlds largest telecom operator， said that it will fully support GTI 2.0 objectives.

U.S.-China Tourism Year Kicks off

Li Jinzao， head of China National Tourism Administration， disclosed at the launching ceremony of the “U.S.-China Tourism Year，” held in Beijing on February 29， that Chinese and American travelers made more than 4.75 million trips to one anothers countries in 2015.

Among the various events planned for the “U.S.-China Tourism Year 2016” are a trek by 1，000 Americans along the Jinshanling Great Wall in Hebei Province， the grand opening of Shanghai Disneyland Park， tourism promotion in the U.S. titled “Beautiful China – Maritime Silk Road，” and a seminar in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

Chinese holidaymakers made an estimated 2.56 million trips to the U.S. last year， according to the United States Department of Commerce， so rendering China the fourth largest source of the U.S.s tourism. With an average annual 2.1 million visitors to China， the U.S. has also maintained a sound development of this sector.