ABSTRACT
The literal translation from Chinese of the word ‘Sanjiangyuan’ is ‘three river heads’. This is the name of the area where the headwaters of the Yangtze River, the Yellow River and the Mekong River are located (Figure 11.1), in the western region of Qinghai, People's Republic of China (PRC). Soil erosion and land degradation in this area and increasing episodes of droughts and floods of the three rivers have pushed the Chinese government to implement a massive strategy for the development and environmental preservation of the watersheds region. The Sanjiangyuan policy has several components. One is the resettlement and sedentarization of the overall nomadic Tibetan population, which historically inhabited the region.
