Abstract: Larger lakes in Tibetan areas are generally revered as holy lakes by Tibetans, but in the Erhai Lake basin, which has
similar cultural backgrounds such as natural worship, folk beliefs and Buddhist beliefs, does not have the concept of Holy Lake. The
root cause of differentiation is whether it is necessary for the local human activities to utilize the waters. At present, the concept of holy
lake is experiencing the severe impact of the local economic and social development, and the protection of ecological environment has
been remarkably diminished. The "Erhai Lake Conservation Model" and the "rescue mode" undergoing in the Erhai Lake basin, where
human activities have far exceeded the carrying capacity of its ecological environment, have shown theoretically and practically that
public governance is the fundamental solution to the ecological civilization of lakes. However, the concept of Holy Lake could remind
us of adjusting the ideas of protectors, excavating the concepts of a living community and an organic whole, transcending the concept of
nature worship and providing people with a reasonable basis for empathy with nature.

Key words: ecological civilization, environment protection, public governance, holy lakes, Erhai Lake