Tenzin Nyidon
DHARAMSHALA, Sept. 6: Two Tibetans, Trachung Palzang from Ngawa (Ch. Sichuan) and Hashu Karma Choshas from Yushu (Ch. Qinghai), have been honoured with the Rangeland Restoration Awards 2026 for their contributions to grassland restoration, pastoral livelihoods, ecological conservation, and the preservation of Tibetan nomadic culture.
The awards, organised under the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP) 2026, declared by the United Nations General Assembly, recognised 20 practitioners from 90 entries across 26 countries. The awards were jointly organised by the IYRP Global Alliance and the South Asia Regional Alliance, honouring individuals whose work contributes to the restoration, sustainable management and protection of rangelands, while strengthening the pastoral communities that depend on them.
Trachung Palzang, from Gascha Village in Maixi Township, Dzoge County, Ngawa Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, is described as a community-based grassland restoration practitioner and a member of a traditional herding family. According to his award profile, Palzang returned home in 2010 to address grassland degradation and help safeguard pastoral culture. He subsequently combined traditional pastoral knowledge with modern ecological approaches and, in 2013, founded a grassland restoration cooperative, alongside a herder photography group that has engaged hundreds of pastoralists in ecological restoration and cultural preservation.
His work has reportedly contributed to the restoration of approximately 14,000 mu, or 933 hectares, of degraded alpine grasslands and peat wetlands through community-led approaches. Palzang has also promoted summer enclosure and winter grazing, as well as adaptive grazing practices aimed at improving the sustainability of rangeland management. His initiatives have benefited about 280 pastoral households, representing more than 1,200 people, while engaging over 1,000 herders.
His conservation efforts have also focused on biodiversity, with his award profile noting improved habitat conditions supporting 98,000 sheep units and more than 230 wildlife species. Beyond ecological restoration, Palzang has worked to strengthen indigenous knowledge and pastoral culture, including through the establishment of a herder photography group and a community conservation model that has reportedly been replicated by more than 10 organisations.
Hashu Karma Choshas, from Jialo Grassland in Drido County, Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, is recognised as a nomadic educator, cultural heritage bearer, and grassland guardian. A member of a pastoral community, he founded the Polar Nomadic School, an initiative that integrates ecological education with traditional nomadic knowledge. The school has reportedly reached more than 5,000 students, herders, and teachers.
His work extends beyond environmental conservation to the preservation of Tibetan nomadic heritage. He is recognised as a county-level intangible cultural heritage bearer for Shengto-style black-tent craftsmanship and has worked to revive and preserve the traditional craft. He has also founded the Yushu Third Pole Ecological Nomadic Culture Protection and Development Research Service Center, linking cultural preservation with community-based ecological conservation.
His award profile credits him with protecting and restoring more than 5,000 mu, approximately 333 hectares, of alpine grassland through rotational grazing. The landscape lies near the source of Drichu (Yangtze River) and the headwaters of the Neqü River and supports approximately 300 yaks and 100 Tibetan sheep within a traditional pastoral setting. He has additionally worked with local communities to conserve water sources, particularly the headwaters of the Neqü River, while promoting ecological education and traditional pastoral knowledge.
The recognition comes at a time when Tibetan pastoral communities face mounting pressures from environmental degradation and policies by the Chinese government that have disrupted their traditional relationship with the land. Large-scale infrastructure under the pretext of development projects—including roads, airports, dams, mining operations, reservoirs, solar power facilities, and national parks—have transformed vast stretches of traditional grazing grounds, while other interventions have further restricted access to pasturelands.
Under the Chinese government’s ecological and animal husbandry policies, nomads have increasingly been restricted from seasonal grazing and, in many areas, compelled to settle in fixed locations. Grasslands have been fenced off, converted for other uses, or subjected to large-scale mining and other development activities, contributing to ecological degradation and the fragmentation of traditional pastoral landscapes.
These changes have had consequences beyond the environment. The displacement of nomadic communities and restrictions on traditional pastoral practices have disrupted longstanding livelihoods, weakened community networks, and placed pressure on the transmission of Tibetan language, culture, and pastoral knowledge.
