China to Launch Publicity Campaign on Soil Erosion Facing Yangtze

China to Launch Publicity Campaign on Soil Erosion Facing Yangtze

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A publicity campaign focusing on the soil erosion issue facing the Yangtze River, the longest river in China, is set to be launched in the coming week by the country's top legislature, the National People's Congress.

The three-month campaign, involving China's leading media organizations, aims to publicize the problem of water and soil erosion facing the 6,400 km river, in a move to increase efforts to tackle the problem, sources with the organizing committee of the campaign said over the weekend.

By focusing public attention on water and soil erosion as the biggest environmental problem facing China, it is hoped that government departments involved will quicken their pace of harnessing the water and soil erosion in the valley, said sources.

The sources said the current situation of ecological destruction outpacing construction has yet to be reversed.

The media organizations taking part in the publicity campaign include CCTV, China's national television station, the People's Daily, and the Xinhua News Agency.

The media organizations are scheduled to cover about 10 provincial areas along the river from Shanghai, where the river meets the East China Sea, and up to its source in the Qinghai- Tibet Plateau, west China.

Li Peng, chairman of the Standing Committee of 9th National People's Congress (NPC), has recently written an inscription for the campaign in a show of support, saying the campaign aims to safeguard the ecological safety of the river.