Inner Mongolia Focuses on Environmental BalanceOfficials with the Xilin Gol League, in central part of north China's Inner Mongolia, recently announced a plan to strengthen vegetation protection in an area of 380,000 hectares to fight against grassland deterioration.Xilin Gol League has about 20 million hectares of grassland which have seriously eroded because of dry weather, pests and overuse. The grass-covered ratio in 1999 was only 27 percent, a sharp drop from 35 percent in 1984. About 64 percent of grasslands have deteriorated or become deserts. According to the plan, the League is to carry out a full-scale program including planting tree and grass, rotation grazing, introducing and planting new meadows while protecting them from pasturing. There are now 40,000 hectares of new meadows in the Xilin Gol League. |
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