Ecosystem worsens despite efforts in China

URUMQI, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- A salt lake in China's far west Gobi region has been shrinking by 40 square km a year as desertification worsens despite local government efforts to restore the area's ecosystem, local officials have told Xinhua.

The dried-up lake bed will border and become part of Mutetar Desert in no more than four years if effective measures are not applied soon, said Gao Xiang, head of the Lake Aibi Wetland National Nature Reserve Administration. "In the case of climate change, serious natural disasters will be inevitable in the area," Gao warned.

The nature reserve chief said the local government and the reserve's administration have been carrying out pilot projects for 10 years but seen little improvement in the ecosystem.

Lake Aibi sits in an internally draining, salt-rich basin near the border of China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Kazakstan. It is the largest salt lake in the region.

The dry earth left on the lake bed is frequently whipped up into sandstorms that have been plaguing China's northern regions for years.

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