China Reins in Soil Erosion at YangtzeChina turned 68,000 square kilometers of seriously-eroded land at the upper reaches of the Yangtze River back into use over the past five years.The achievement was attributable to a massive project launched in 1989 to control soil erosion at the upper reaches of China's largest river. To date, soil improvement has been completed on one-third of the eroded fields at the four key areas in the region, namely the lower reaches of the Jinsha River, middle and lower reaches of the Jialing River, southern Gansu and Shaanxi provinces and the dam area of the Three Gorges, said Zhang Zhongwei, director of the Yangtze River Water Conservation Committee. Soil erosion has been serious in areas along the Yangtze River including Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Hubei, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces and Chongqing Municipality. At present, 55 percent of the once eroded land in the designated areas are covered with greenery. A supervisory system at the county, prefecture and provincial levels have been set up to oversee the implementation of relevant state or local regulations. |
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