North China Deal With DesertificationNorth China's Hebei Province is to return some 260,000 hectares of farmland to forests and grassland in five years to improve the environment, said Bai Junjie, director of the Zhangjiakou city forestry bureau.Zhangjiakou, located in the northwestern part of the province, is more than 1,000 meters higher at the sea level than Beijing, which directly influences the ecology of the Chinese capital. Bashang, a vast grassland in the city is now facing 70 percent of desertification and soil erosion due to over-cultivation and a surplus of livestock. Only 110,000 hectares of forests and about 400,000 hectares of grasslands remain. The farmland returning project aims to bring the green coverage in the province from 12 percent to 22 percent. |
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