Box 4.1: The Inclusive Development Experience of Tibet: Aquaculture Takes the Lead Tibet is located in southwestern China with an average altitude of over 4,000 metres and a population of around three million, among which over 90% are Tibetans. Due to its unique geographical conditions, natural environment and historical and cultural features, Tibet was reliant on its low productivity agropastoral economy for centuries and, as a result, experienced extremely low socio-economic development levels. Tibet, with low levels of human development, used to be ranked last of all the Chinese provinces according to the human development index. Following Tibet’s revolution in the 1950s, the region’s development relied heavily on financial support and assistance from the Chinese central government and other provinces in China. In the last 10 years, however, the local government of Tibet agreed objectives to increase local capabilities in order to improve its socio-economic development; Tibetan leaders prioritized the water industry as a leading sector. The goal was to promote inclusive development through advancing Tibet’s aquaculture sector, and to coordinate social and environmental development in order to advance economic growth – this would be achieved without external assistance. The result of such an industry-focused programme was the emergence of Tibet as the province with the most abundant water resources in China. Tibet’s total water resources are now ranked top in China; it has the most water per capita, the largest reserves and the most expansive area of glaciers. Data from ‘Evaluation Report of Natural Drinking Water Resources in Tibet’ show that the region has an average of 439.4 billion cubic metres of total water reserves, which makes up 16.5% of China’s national total. The purity levels of Tibet’s water resources are also extremely high, on a par with other world-leading water resources. Due to Tibet’s global comparative advantage in this industry, the Tibetan local Government has highlighted the water sector as one of Tibet’s leading sectors in its local Five Year Development Plan and has established an office within Government to coordinate water sector development. It was clearly stipulated that the water sector should not only bring about economic growth, but that it should also assist with local poverty alleviation efforts and stimulate inclusive development, in order to raise standards of living for local people. A case from Dangxiong County shows how key industries can be harnessed to support local development. The county is located at altitude of almost 5,100 meters on the side of a glacier, and used to be fully reliant on an agro-pastoral sector that was characterized by low productivity. Before 2005, the average disposable income per household in Dangxiong was below RMB 2,000 per year (approx. US$300), and most of its villages and towns had no access to electricity or tarmac roads. After glacier mineral water production1 was introduced to the county, local economic output increased by 80% and over RMB 100 million (approx. US$15.5 million) in tax revenue was generated for the local government. Furthermore, the local mineral water factory was able to hire 95% of its employees from among local Tibetan farmers and herdsmen, and in return provided them with relevant literacy education and on-the-job training. As a result, these local people attained average annual incomes of RMB 50,000 per capita, a dramatic increase from the prior baseline of RMB 2,000 per household. Other unemployed families also increased their incomes by providing logistics assistance and transporting shipments of mineral water. In terms of infrastructure, the factory built the first tarmac road for neighborhood villages and connected 18 villages with electricity, subsidizing more than RMB 500,000 worth of electricity costs for local households annually. The factory also provided support to local basic education and healthcare providers and assisted with poverty alleviation, such as through the ‘Tibet 5100 Education Fund’, which donates around RMB 1 million annually to local schools towards school meals and education facilities. 2 In the economic development zone in the suburbs of Lhasa City, another water company3 has contributed to poverty alleviation and education provision. The company achieved this by reserving 8% of the retail price of every bottle of water sold for corporate social responsibility purposes. This fund has been used to contribute to poverty alleviation, to develop primary schools in remote areas, and to provide scholarships for university students from poor Tibetan families. Similar to the case in Dangxiong, this company also recruited large numbers of local, poor and unemployed people and offered paid internships to university students from poor regions to help them integrate into modern society. 4 By promoting opportunities and capabilities using a human development approach, companies in the Chinese water sector have been able to teach new industry skills to farmers in the countryside in Tibet, improving their access to knowledge and learning, and providing them with an opportunity to escape defunct industries. By introducing them to modern production methods and operations, local farmers
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