Zhangjiakou to Invest 6.8 Billion Yuan to Control Sand DunesZhangjiakou in north China's Hebei Province will invest 6.89 billion yuan (about US$800 million) in its 10-year project to control sand dune movements.Zhangjiakou has five of the six main passages through which sand is blown into Beijing. Huangyang Sand and the other five moving sand dunes located in Zhangjiakou are the major dunes doing harms to Beijing and Tianjin. The four high-altitude counties in Zhangjiakou, which are another areas threatened by sand dune movements, have a total desertification area of 350,000 hectares. According to the project plan, Zhangjiakou will complete about 800,000 hectares of forestation (400,000 hectares of farmland will be turned into woods or pastures), 542,000 hectares of vegetation protection and 422,000 hectares of grasslands. A number of water conservancy facilities will be built. At present, Zhangjiakou has 2,269 newly built and renovated tree nurseries, which will provide 400 million saplings this year. |
| People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/ |