The Pendeba Society, founded in 2009, is the first non-profit organization to be created in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. It is registered in the Civil Affairs Bureau of the Shigatse Prefecture Government with support from the Management Bureau of the Qomolangma (Mt. Everest) National Nature Preserve (QNNP). It is also one of the few groups that are able to do survey work at the community
level in the QNNP region. The Pendeba Society is the local incarnation of a program begun in 1994 by Future Generations, an international NGO focused on conservation and community development. The earlier Pendeba Program was developed in response to the growing need for local participation in the protection of the Qomolangma National Nature Preserve in the Mt. The program was part of a new approach to protected area management that saw local inhabitants of the newly created protection zone trained to be preserve wardens. In 1989, the QNNP was the first national park in Asia to integrate conservation with development.
