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Good practice Imported

Ruoergai (Zoige) Alpine Peatland Restoration (China)

China · Ruoergai · See the China profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 81% 33/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

With UNEP-GEF and EU-China funding, Ruoergai's wetland reserve administration dammed drainage canals to rewet part of the Tibetan Plateau's largest alpine peatland, raising water tables up to 50cm across roughly 1,568 of the 65,000 ha degraded since the 1960s.

350,000 ha
Total peatland area
69 %
Share of China's peatland carbon stored
920 km
Drainage ditches dug (1960s-1990s)
65,000 ha
Area degraded by drainage
up to 26 cm
Water-level rise, deep canals
up to 50 cm
Water-level rise, shallow canals
1,568 ha (~2% of degraded area)
Area restored to date

Details

Maturity
Pilot
Promoter
Ruoergai National Wetlands Nature Reserve Administration / Hongyuan Forestry Bureau
Period
2008-2015 (documented restoration and monitoring phase)
Keywords
alpine peatland restoration, drainage-canal damming, water conservation, Yellow River headwaters, biodiversity (Black-necked Crane)

Context

The Ruoergai (Zoige) Plateau holds roughly 350,000 ha of alpine peatland — China's largest high-altitude peatland complex, storing an estimated 69% of the country's peatland carbon — of which over 65,000 ha was degraded by around 920 km of drainage ditches dug between the 1960s and 1990s to convert peatland to pasture. The Ruoergai National Wetlands Nature Reserve Administration and Hongyuan Forestry Bureau, funded by UNEP-GEF and the EU-China Biodiversity Conservation Programme, blocked drainage canals with wood, concrete, peat and sand dams and re-seeded bare peat.

Results

Field monitoring recorded water levels rising by up to 26 cm in deep canals and up to 50 cm in shallow ones, enough to cause overflow and rewetting of adjacent peat, as reported in a peer-reviewed 2011 study. Documented restoration covers approximately 1,568 ha, about 2% of the 65,000 ha degraded.

Conclusions

The peer-reviewed assessment describes the canal-damming approach as technically effective but still small in scale relative to the extent of degradation; subsequent research (2022) continues to document reduced carbon sequestration in degraded areas, underscoring the case for further scale-up.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k) — Low-cost, low-tech canal-blocking materials (wood, concrete, peat, sand); international grant funding via UNEP-GEF and the EU-China programme, with no cost total published.
Time to results
Medium (1–3 years) — Restoration and monitoring documented for 2008-2015; academic follow-up study published 2022; later water-conservation strategy work in 2024.
Staffing & skills
Ruoergai National Wetlands Nature Reserve Administration and Hongyuan Forestry Bureau implement restoration works

Conditions for success

  • International funding (UNEP-GEF, EU-China Biodiversity Conservation Programme) supported dam construction and monitoring
  • Field monitoring of water levels enabled peer-reviewed verification of the hydrological effect

Common failure modes

  • Documented restoration (~1,568 ha) covers only ~2% of the 65,000 ha degraded, indicating an early-stage proof-of-concept rather than landscape-scale reversal
  • No study quantifies carbon sequestration gained specifically from the restored area
  • No dedicated pre/post biodiversity monitoring of the restored canal sites was found

Where it fits

Governance type
provincial nature-reserve administration with international donor funding
Scale
sub-national pilot (single plateau)
Income level
upper-middle income

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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