Soil Erosion Top Northwest China Environmental ProblemSoil erosion is the most serious problem now troubling northwest China, according to noted Chinese experts.The experts, who have been researching the area's environmental conditions for several years said that soil erosion had affected an area of 454,000 sq km in the Loess Highlands, resulting in creeping desertification, which is a great threat to the local economy. There are only some 100,000 sq km of oases in 2.88 million sq km of arid land around the inland rivers in northwest China, they said. To improve the situation, the area around 33 tributaries of the Yellow River, totaling 190,000 sq km, has been given priority in checking the soil erosion. And, another 120,000 sq km of land in the area will be added into the soil erosion controlled area by the year 2010, local officials said. |
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