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.
Facts Only
* Trachung Palzang from Ngawa received the Rangeland Restoration Awards 2026.
* Hashu Karma Choshas from Yushu received the Rangeland Restoration Awards 2026.
* The awards recognized contributions to grassland restoration, pastoral livelihoods, ecological conservation, and Tibetan nomadic culture.
* Trachung Palzang addressed grassland degradation upon returning home in 2010.
* Palzang founded a grassland restoration cooperative and a herder photography group in 2013.
* Palzang's work reportedly restored approximately 14,000 mu or 933 hectares of degraded alpine grasslands and peat wetlands through community-led approaches.
* Palzang’s initiatives benefited about 280 pastoral households and engaged over 1,000 herders.
* Palzang's efforts supported habitat conditions for 98,000 sheep units and more than 230 wildlife species.
* Hashu Karma Choshas founded the Polar Nomadic School to integrate ecological education with traditional nomadic knowledge.
* Choshas is recognized as a county-level intangible cultural heritage bearer for Shengto-style black-tent craftsmanship.
* Choshas protected and restored more than 5,000 mu or approximately 333 hectares of alpine grassland through rotational grazing.
* Choshas worked with local communities to conserve water sources in the headwaters of the Neqü River.
* Changes in land use involve infrastructure projects such as roads, airports, dams, mining operations, and national parks.
* Government policies have restricted nomads from seasonal grazing and compelled settlement in fixed locations.
Executive Summary
Two Tibetans, Trachung Palzang from Ngawa and Hashu Karma Choshas from Yushu, received the Rangeland Restoration Awards 2026 for their work in grassland restoration, pastoral livelihoods, ecological conservation, and cultural preservation. These awards were organized under the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP) 2026 and recognized 20 practitioners from 90 entries across 26 countries. The recognition honored individuals contributing to the restoration, sustainable management, and protection of rangelands while strengthening dependent pastoral communities.
Trachung Palzang, from Ngawa, is a community-based grassland restoration practitioner who combined traditional knowledge with modern ecological approaches. His initiatives have reportedly restored approximately 14,000 mu or 933 hectares of degraded alpine grasslands and peat wetlands through community-led methods, benefiting about 280 pastoral households and engaging over 1,000 herders, while also improving habitat for sheep units and wildlife.
Hashu Karma Choshas, from Yushu, is recognized as a nomadic educator and cultural heritage bearer who founded the Polar Nomadic School, integrating ecological education with nomadic knowledge. He has worked to protect and restore over 5,000 mu or 333 hectares of alpine grassland through rotational grazing, and he has focused on conserving water sources while promoting traditional pastoral knowledge.
These achievements occur amidst mounting environmental pressures and policies implemented by the Chinese government, which have led to restrictions on seasonal grazing, forced settlements, and land-use changes like fencing and mining, disrupting traditional nomadic livelihoods and cultural transmission.
Full Take
The narrative highlights a tension between localized, community-led ecological adaptation and large-scale state-driven environmental and developmental restructuring. The recognition of Palzang and Choshas centers on successful, bottom-up practices—combining traditional knowledge with contemporary ecology—which directly resulted in measurable habitat restoration and livelihood support for pastoral communities. This success is juxtaposed against the overarching context of centralized policies that impose fixed settlement patterns and restrict access to traditional migratory routes.
The core pattern suggests that while practitioners successfully managed ecological systems at a micro-level, these local achievements operate within a macro-structure where state policies override customary land use rights. The displacement and restriction of nomadic practices serve as the primary mechanism through which environmental degradation is compounded: the physical loss of grazing land simultaneously severs the cultural and social networks that sustain pastoral knowledge transmission.
The implication is that external recognition, while valuable for visibility, does not resolve the structural conflict. The actions taken by the recognized individuals demonstrate resilience in conservation, but the larger systemic pressures—infrastructure development and restrictive policies—continue to undermine the fundamental relationship between these communities and their ancestral lands, suggesting a gap between localized ecological stewardship and broader political sovereignty over land use.
Bridge questions: How can international frameworks be adapted to support the continuity of pastoral mobility when state policies mandate sedentary living? What mechanisms exist for legally embedding traditional nomadic grazing rights within modern environmental governance structures? If recognition focuses on restoration, how can it shift from merely mitigating damage to actively restoring agency over land tenure?
Sentinel — Human
This text reads as a well-researched journalistic report, skillfully linking specific community achievements with overarching environmental and political pressures, suggesting a human editorial process.