Japanese Association Aids Protection of Yangtze RiverKeidanren, the Japanese Economic Association, has offered to raise 80 million Japanese yen (about US$4.8 billion) from its member companies to protect the Yangtze River, the longest in China.Keidanren signed an agreement Wednesday with the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China (CYLC) and the All China Youth Federation. According to the agreement, Keidanren will help plant 500 hectares of trees along the Yangtze River in Shou County of the southwest municipality Chongqing. The project is scheduled to start on March 2 and be finished in five years. Some 560,000 square kilometers of the Yangtze River area suffers from soil erosion, which has been partly responsible for severe floods in recent years. The Central Committee of CYLC launched a Mother River Protection Operation in early 1999 to raise people's awareness about environmental and ecological protection, and protect China's major rivers. |
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