Eco protection effective in Sanjiangyuan area

16:10, July 23, 2009

Photo taken on July 23, 2009, shows the Xinxinhai Lake restored to its origional look, Maduo Mounty, northwest China's Qinghai Province. (Xinhua Photo)

Photo taken on Aug. 27, 2008, shows the hydropower station located in the Longqing Gorge, the Lancang River, in Zaduo County, Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, norhtwest China's Qinghai Province. (Xinhua Photo)

The ecological degradation of the Sanjiangyuan area, in the middle of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, has been curbed and the area's water source conservation function has been restored since China launched an eco protection project in 2005.

The Sanjiangyuan area, covering 363,000 sq km and rising at an average altitude of 4,000 m, is China's largest eco-functional region.

As the source of the Yangtze, Yellow and Lancang rivers, it is also known as the "water tower of Asia."
The Sanjiangyuan project, also the largest of its kind in China on eco-protection, will need a financing of 7.5 billion yuan (907 million U.S. dollars), with 2.26 billlion yuan spent on eco construction by the end of May.

The project will involve three aspects, namely, eco protection, infrastructure construction related to farmers and herdsmen's living and production, and construction of facilities in support of eco-environment.

According to remote-sensing data from 2004 to 2008, slower structural changes had taken place in the Sanjiangyuan eco-system, such as a partial expansion of water body and turning desertified areas into grasslands.

Moreover, the area of water body and wetland eco-system had increased by 43.21 sq km, that of the grassland eco-system grown by 182.75 sq km and that the eco-system of desertification had been reduced by 200.84 sq km.

Meanwhile, the annual grass output during the 2005-2008 period had risen by 21.6 percent over that for the 2000-2005 period. Enlarged marshlands and lakes have resulted in the restoration of the regional water source conservation, ensuring the quality-water supply to the Yangtze River and the lower reaches of the Yellow River.

For example, the annual average rainfall of the regional gauging stations reached 506 mm in 2004 and 2007, up 28 mm over that for the 1975-2004 period.

Source: Xinhua