A large loan and financial aid program, supported by the World
Bank, the European Union and the Chinese government, to curb
erosion in China's central and southwestern provinces has been
launched.
Altogether 37 counties in the drainage areas of China's longest
river, the Yangtze River, and the third longest, the Pearl River,
in Yunnan, Guizhou, Hubei and Chongqing, are expected to benefit
from the US$200-million program, said Vice Minister of Water
Resources Zhai Haohui on Wednesday.
Zhai said half of the fund was provided by the World Bank as a
loan to the areas while the other half included grant-in-aid by the
EU and investment from the Chinese government.
It was the first time the three parties have cooperated to deal
with China's ecological crisis, said David Dollar, head of World
Bank China office.
The program, to run six years, will focus on a water and soil
conservation project aiming to encourage the sustainable
maintenance and use of the ecological environment, Dollar said.
About 3.56 million square kilometers of China's territory
suffers from erosion, 37 percent of the total area, and accounts
for 14.2 percent of the world total.
(Xinhua News Agency September 28, 2006)
