Dangdong villagers now taste for themselves the advantages of environmental protection. That is one of the three small nature reserves under the Lhasa Municipality. Besides them, one fourth of the 1. 2 million square kilometers of Tibet has been demarcated as nature reserves of the autonomous-region or Slate grade. Tibetan fauna and flora are characterized by variety and abundance. More than 40 species of the animals and plants cannot be found anywhere else in the world except on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the Himalayas.
Nature reserve is the logical modern choice, the chief way out for Tbetan environmental protection.
In 1970s, Tibet started to demarcate areas in which hunting and felling of rare and precious animals and plants were banned. In 1980s, Tibet set about establishing nature eserves. Later, five more nature reserves were set up chiefly for the protection of rare and precious animals, of which the Qangtang Nature Reserve, with an area of more than 240,000 square kilometres,is the largest in the world. While setting up nature reserves, Tibetan authorities took steps to probe fauna and flora resources and strengthen co-operation with foreign countries. Comprehensive probe has been jointly conducted by teams made up of foreign and Chinese scientists on the species, distribution and life pattern of the wild animals in Qangtang Nature Reserve of north Tibet.