XINING -- A law on ecological protection of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, known as "the roof of the world," took effect on Friday.

The law, with 63 articles in seven chapters, was passed at a standing committee session of the country's top legislature in April. It outlines the overall layout of the plateau ecology security, stipulates protection and restoration measures, risk prevention and control, and safeguards and supervision.

The law focuses on specific problems and prominent features of ecological protection of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and upholds the conservation and systematic governance of mountains, waters, forests, farmlands, grasslands, deserts, and glaciers in the region.

The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, with an area of around 2.58 million square km, spans six provincial-level regions in western China, including Qinghai and Tibet.

Located in the hinterland of the plateau, the Sanjiangyuan area in Qinghai is known as Asia's "water tower" as it contains the headwaters of the Yangtze, Yellow and Lancang rivers. China started piloting the Sanjiangyuan National Park in 2016. In 2021, China established the first batch of national parks, including the Sanjiangyuan.

Sun Lijun, deputy director of the Sanjiangyuan National Park administration, said that after the construction of the national park, the total amount of water resources in Qinghai has risen, the wetland area has jumped to first place in the country, and the vegetation coverage as well as the biodiversity have increased.

Xu Qingmin with the Qinghai Province Ecological and Environmental Monitoring Center, said that the law provides a vital legal guarantee for ecological security layout, ecological protection and restoration, and ecological risk prevention and control of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Over the past 10 years, China has made remarkable progress in ecological and environmental protection legislation. A comprehensive, pragmatic, and rigorous legal system for ecological and environmental protection has been formed.

The law on ecological conservation on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is a new addition to China's laws for special regions, following the enactment of the Yangtze River Protection Law, the Yellow River Protection Law, and the Black Soil Protection Law.

"We will strictly implement the law, promote the construction of a monitoring network for the plateau's ecological environment and biodiversity, and cooperate with relevant departments in aspects including monitoring the climate change and its impacts," said Yin Yaqi, an official of the Qinghai provincial department of ecology and environment.