Cattle graze on a grassland in Hexigten Qi, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Oct. 7, 2012. [Xinhua]

This grassland was part of China's first stage of the control project initiated in 2000 to improve air quality in the country's capital Beijing and its neighboring Tianjin Municipality. In the first 10 years, the government allocated 41.2 billion yuan (6.6 billion U.S. dollars) in the project, which helped restore 6 million hectares of forests. Now China announced to invest a total of 87.79 billion yuan (13.72 billion U.S. dollars) to help control the sources of sandstorms that affect Beijing and Tianjin, according to the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planner. The money will be used during the second stage of the sandstorm control project for Beijing and Tianjin during 2013-2022, which was approved by the State Council in September of 2012. The second stage of the project for 2013-2022 will cover 138 counties in Beijing, Tianjin and other major sandstorm affected areas, including Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, according to the plan.