Baima Gyalpo has heard lots of legends about Lake Mapam Yutso ever since she was a child. And she takes it her responsibility to keep the lake and the nearby area clean and neat.

In the early 1990s, Baima Gyalpo said, “The environment is related each and everyone of us, and if those of us living next to it don't take take care of it, who will?” Baima Gyalpo has become a guardian of the lake since then and vowed to keep the area pristine.

In 2014, the management station of Mapam Yutso Wetland Nature Reserve was established. Local residents competed for guardians working in the station. 30-years-old Baima Wangyal was one of them who would become the station director.

“They're more energetic than I am and more educated too, they'll do an even better job.” Said Baima Gyalpo. “The villagers would pass on the duties generation after generation, and keep guarding the treasure nature gave us.”

“There are 12 employees at the station, and five or six of them were born in the 1990s.” Baima Wangyal said. “The county even gave us special vehicles to make our patrol easier. We're confident the environment here would keep improving.”

Lake Mapam Yutso is in northern Pulan County of Ngari Prefecture in Tibet, one of the critical “International Wetlands” designated by the Wetlands International.