Ningxia Harnesses Soil ErosionNorthwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region controlled soil erosion in an area of 4,076 square kilometers over the past five years, officials of the regional water conservancy bureau said Tuesday.The environment improve efforts also resulted in the development of a group of small reservoirs and 118,000 hectares of dry farmland, which boosted the agricultural production in the region, they said. Located on the Loess Plateau, Ningxia has fragile ecological conditions. The area plagued by soil erosion accounts for 80 percent of the region's total land, where more than 100 million tons of soil and sand are washed into the Yellow River every year. Since 1998 Ningxia has invested 228 million yuan to control soil erosion in 12 cities and counties along the Yellow River, greatly improving the flood-control capacity. Some of Ningxia's practices in dealing with soil erosion and improving the environment have won experts' appraisal and are being spread to other parts of China for reference. China suffers serious soil erosion. Remote sensing results released in 1990 shows that the area under soil erosion accounts for one-third of the country's total land area, and soil erosion caused by human activities is extending by 10,000 square kilometers on a yearly basis. |
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