INTRODUCTION

MASTER'S DEGREE

COUNTRY PROGRAMS

AFGHANISTAN

INDIA

PERU

CHINA
GreenLongMarch
Tibet Project Sites
Qomolangma (Everest)
Four Great Rivers
Lhasa Wetlands
Related Links

PROCESS OF CHANGE

LEARNING CENTER

ABOUT US

NEWS

ART AND INSPIRATION

JOIN US

CONTACT US

Tibet is an extraordinary place inhabited by remarkable people. In this harsh, high-altitude environment, Future Generations works to foster and facilitate the emergence of a new pattern of nature conservation that protects nature and improves living conditions, starting at the village level.

Qomolangma National Nature Preserve

The Qomolangma (Everest) National Nature Preserve, a park the size of Massachusetts, is home to the world’s highest mountains and 86,000 Tibetans. Future Generations helped develop and ten years later revise a master plan for this protected area. Future Generations is currently training local people known as Pendebas in conservation management and community development. For more detailed information click here <Qomolangma> or use the navigation bar to the left.

Four Great Rivers

This new protected area in southeastern Tibet is the headwaters region for much of Asia. What happens here affects lives and living conditions for 20% of the world’s people who live downstream in 8 countries. Here four deep valleys (the Yangtze, MeKong, Salween and Brahmaputra) are the deepest, most geologically “rumpled” in the world, with diverse eco-zones ranging from tropical in the valley bottoms to arctic-like on the mountain summits. This park contains one of the world's largest concentrations of flowering plants and extensive forest reserves which represent one-seventh of the trees in China. Over 800,000 people live within this protected area. Future Generations works closely with the Tibet Department of Science and Technology and the David Suzuki Foundation to extend the process of community-based conservation throughout the protected area through the extension of the Pendeba Program. For more detailed information click here <Four Rivers> or use the navigation bar to the left.

Lhasa Wetlands

Future Generations provides training and support to the Tibetan Plateau Biology Institute to preserve the remaining wetlands within the capital city of Lhasa. More than half of this precious zone has already been lost, but the government recognizes the danger with 30% remaining and has created a huge urban park. The Lhasa Wetlands, known locally as Lhalu, is the highest urban wetland in the world. Spreading beneath the Potola Palace, this 1, 605 acre protected area not only preserves open space but provides critical ecological services as the "lungs of Lhasa." The Tibetan Plateau Biology Insititue has established a Lhalu Wetland Education and Training Center in downtown Lhasa to educate local people, tourists and school children about the value of the wetlands. For more detailed information click here <Lhasa Wetlands> or use the navigation bar to the left.

Tibet-wide Conservation

Future Generations staff were the principal international designers of the QNNP. Today, Future Generations is using the QNNP success to promote Tibet-wide momentum for sustainable human development and environmental protection. Our all-Tibet activities date back to 1992 when Future Generations was able to initiate an all-Tibet ban on the sale of wild animal pelts and horns. As a result, markets throughout Tibet no longer display tiger, leopard, lynx, wolf, and antelope commodities for sale.

The greatest need for sustaining Tibet-wide momentum for this new pattern of nature conservation is training. Future Generations is working with our Tibetan colleagues to establish an All Tibet Conservation Training Center in Lhasa. With more than 40% of Tibet under protected area status, this training center will help develop the capacity of local people to manage these extensive reserves.