China initially curbs overall expansion of land degradation and desertification: white paper

    China has initially curbed the overall expansion of land degradation and desertification, says a white paper entitled Environmental Protection in China (1996-2005) issued on Monday.

    By the end of 2004, the total area of degraded land in China was 2,636,200 sq km, and that of desertified land was 1,739,700 sqkm, net decreases of 37,924 sq km and 6,416 sq km, respectively, in a span of five years from 1999, according to the white paper.

    Also, the degrees of land degradation and desertification had been alleviated, with a shrinkage of 245,900 sq km of the seriously and very seriously degraded land, the white paper says.

    The Chinese government has made the sand prevention and control a strategic principle to prevent land degradation and desertification for the improvement of the eco-environment, for the expansion of the spaces of survival and development, and for coordinated, sustainable socio-economic development, the white paper says.

    It has promulgated and implemented the Law on Sand Prevention and Control, approved the National Plan for Sand Prevention and Control (2005-2010), and issued the Decision on Further Strengthening the Work of Sand Prevention and Control, according to the white paper.

    It has also organized a number of key relevant projects, achieving a net reduction in the areas suffering from land degradation and desertification.

    During the Tenth Five-Year Plan period (2001-2005), the natural forest protection project succeeded in securing eight million hectares of forest for ecological benefits, enabling 93.33 million hectares of forest resources to recover, statistics from the white paper show.

    From 2000 to 2005, over nine billion yuan (around 1.1 billion US dollars) was earmarked from the central budget to support the projects of natural pasture vegetation recovery and construction, the building of pasture fences and forage grass seed bases, the halting of herding for vegetation recovery, and grassland eco-construction to control the dust storm sources threatening the Beijing-Tianjin area, the white paper says.

    By the end of 2005, the acreage of man-made grasslands had added up to 13 million hectares, that of improved pasture to 14 million hectares and that of fenced pasture to 33 million ha. Twenty percent of the pastures now practice grazing prohibition, grazing land recovery and designated rotation grazing, according to the white paper.

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
[11] [12]