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'Green' development for grassland
Hulunboir League, an area of Inner Mongolia famous for its pasture land, is to protect its natural spaces while developing the local economy.
The league government is taking steps to protect the environment by encouraging people to set up businesses without damaging the grassland.
"Hulunboir has some of the best grassland in the world which belongs to everyone. We have no right to damage it," said Lian Ji, head of the league.The Hulunboir League is in northeastern China and shares borders with Russia and Mongolia. It also has a territory of 253,000 square kilometres, almost as big as Shandong and Jiangsu provinces together. There are 31 ethnic minority groups living in the area. The league possesses rich natural resources, including 8.33 million hectares of natural grassland.
However, due to climate changes and excessive logging, part of the Hulunboir pasture- land has disappeared and other areas are threatened by an encroaching desert. Because of this, the league government is determined to base economic development with protecting the environment. The State Council has recently approved a plan to designate Hulunboir League as a national ecology zone to carry out this policy, according to Lian Ji.
The league has invited experts to work out a programme which will not only protect the grassland, but also preserve water supplies and wetlands. The league plans to turn 133,000 hectares of land into pastureland next year and by the year 2005 there will be an extra 266,000 hectares of forest and grassland. The league hopes that in several years 40 per cent of farmland will become environmentally friendly areas. The league has banned grass harvesting this year and started a rotation system whereby grassland does not get used for some years. Besides this, the local government has started to sow grass for fodder to protect cultivation of existing pastureland. Local people believe these policies could also boost tourism. (China Daily by Zhu Baoxia)
