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China will spend nearly 1.4 billion yuan (US$170 million) over 10 years to build the world's largest Qinling Botanical Garden, covering an area of 458 square kilometers.

The garden - under construction in Zhouzhi County of Xi'an, capital city of Northwest China's Shaanxi Province - will protect and maintain the bio-diversity of plant species and the sustainable development of wildlife resources in the region.

More than 20 new kinds of plant species have been discovered so far, said garden head Shen Maocai in China Youth Daily yesterday.

The construction of the garden is supported by the Shaanxi provincial government and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The program started one and a half years ago.

An estimated 1.38 billion yuan (US$166.2 million) is needed for the construction of the garden, which is four times larger than the current largest in Australia, according to Shen.

He said about 580 million yuan (US$70 million) will be used in the first phase of the project, which will be finished in 2005.

Funds come from four channels: budgets of the provincial government and the State Environmental Protection Administration, money from the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), banks and private investments.

The GEF is a financial mechanism structured as a trust fund that operates for the purpose of achieving global environmental benefits.

State Environmental Protection Administration officials called on the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) to support the construction of the garden at the Second GEF Membership Conference, which was held in October in China.

The construction of the garden unexpectedly became the highlight of the conference as most members showed great interest in the project.

A senior official of Switzerland said the Qinling Garden could be viewed as a model for the improvement of the environment in western China.

Qinling lies at the intersection of the subtropical and the temperate zones, enjoying the most suitable climate for growing and diversifying plants.

It is thus a good base for the collection and protection of various plant genes, said Yang Xiangqi, director of the General Affairs Office of the Qinling Botanical Garden. "More than 3,200 species growing in Qinling area will enjoy immediate protection,'' he said.

(China Daily November 26, 2002)