Inner Mongolia to assist in fight against Beijing sandstorms
Deputies from the Inner Mongolia autonomous region to the 12th National People's Congress,China's top legislature, have called for upgrading the desertification control project that blocks sandstorms from hitting the country's capital, a measure that gives environmental protection the same weight as economic development.
The Xilingol League plans to start the second stage of the Sandstorm Source Control Projectaround Beijing and Tianjin this year, investing 6 billion yuan ($952 million) to change 2.67million hectares of sand into grassland, said Liu Junchen, leader of the Xilingol League and anNPC deputy.
The Xilingol Grassland, 180 km from Beijing, is the nearest grassland to the capital and Tianjin.
"The overall ecological degradation has been initially curbed," Liu said.
The vegetation coverage in the league's grassland reached 60 percent at the end of 2012, upfrom 23 percent in 2000, Liu said.
The first stage of the Sandstorm Source Control Project around Beijing and Tianjin was finishedin Xilingol League last year. The league recovered 2.17 million hectares of grassland duringthe past 10 years and planted more than 800 km of protection forest, a report from the localgovernment said.
Bater, chairman of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, said a key task for the localgovernment in the past five years has been balancing environmental protection and resourcedevelopment.
"The exploitation of resources, especially the development of coal mines, has been the maindriving force to support the fast growth of Inner Mongolia in recent years," Bater said.
"It also contributes to high local fiscal growth, which is the precondition to launching largeenvironmental protection projects."
He suggested taking a "balanced" measure and improving production technology to developmodern industries.
In his annual Government Work Report to NPC deputies, Premier Wen Jiabao highlighted thateconomic development is increasingly in conflict with resource conservation and environmentalprotection.
"We should adopt effective measures to prevent and control pollution and change the way wework and live," he said.
One key to improving the living environment is to speed up the adjustment of the economicstructure and distribution, as well as upgrading related regulations and laws, Wen suggested inthe report.
Ecological damage in the Xilingol Grassland is still very grim, and the trend of increasingdesertification has not yet been fully controlled, said Liu.
The task of grassland protection is now arduous, especially in the Hunshadake Sandy Landarea, where wandering dunes cover about 667,000 hectares, about 11 percent of the sandyland, according to Liu.
chenjia1@chinadaily.com.cn
The Xilingol League plans to start the second stage of the Sandstorm Source Control Projectaround Beijing and Tianjin this year, investing 6 billion yuan ($952 million) to change 2.67million hectares of sand into grassland, said Liu Junchen, leader of the Xilingol League and anNPC deputy.
The Xilingol Grassland, 180 km from Beijing, is the nearest grassland to the capital and Tianjin.
"The overall ecological degradation has been initially curbed," Liu said.
The vegetation coverage in the league's grassland reached 60 percent at the end of 2012, upfrom 23 percent in 2000, Liu said.
The first stage of the Sandstorm Source Control Project around Beijing and Tianjin was finishedin Xilingol League last year. The league recovered 2.17 million hectares of grassland duringthe past 10 years and planted more than 800 km of protection forest, a report from the localgovernment said.
Bater, chairman of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, said a key task for the localgovernment in the past five years has been balancing environmental protection and resourcedevelopment.
"The exploitation of resources, especially the development of coal mines, has been the maindriving force to support the fast growth of Inner Mongolia in recent years," Bater said.
"It also contributes to high local fiscal growth, which is the precondition to launching largeenvironmental protection projects."
He suggested taking a "balanced" measure and improving production technology to developmodern industries.
In his annual Government Work Report to NPC deputies, Premier Wen Jiabao highlighted thateconomic development is increasingly in conflict with resource conservation and environmentalprotection.
"We should adopt effective measures to prevent and control pollution and change the way wework and live," he said.
One key to improving the living environment is to speed up the adjustment of the economicstructure and distribution, as well as upgrading related regulations and laws, Wen suggested inthe report.
Ecological damage in the Xilingol Grassland is still very grim, and the trend of increasingdesertification has not yet been fully controlled, said Liu.
The task of grassland protection is now arduous, especially in the Hunshadake Sandy Landarea, where wandering dunes cover about 667,000 hectares, about 11 percent of the sandyland, according to Liu.
chenjia1@chinadaily.com.cn
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