Wounds inflicted on Qinghai reserve must be healed soon to save 3 rivers

THE SANJIANGYUAN NATURAL RESERVE in Northwest China's Qinghai province is the source of the Yangtze River, Yellow River and the Lancang River, making it one of the most important sources of freshwater in the world. But illegal coal and iron ore mining in recent years has seriously damaged the environment and ecology of the reserve and its surrounding areas on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Beijing News comments:

Sanjiangyuan contributes 25 percent of the water in the Yangtze River, 49 percent in the Yellow river, and 15 percent in the Lancang River (upper half of the Mekong River).

The mining industry, however, has almost destroyed the vegetation in the reserve, laid the massif bare, and the deserted mines, including open-cast mines, have become sources of pollution, expediting the melting of glaciers and disappearance of lakes. As a result, the region has become one of the worst cases of environmental disaster.