China has launched a pilot campaign to tackle major environmental problems in its vast rural areas, according to the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA).

 

The program is a major move of the Chinese government over the next five years to overhaul the rural environment in a bid to enable farmers to bid farewell to the garbage-ridden and dust-smothered environment.

 

At present, the program has already been carried out in six provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities and counties, including Jiangsu, Jilin and Ningxia. And the program is to extend gradually to other parts of the country, SEPA said.

 

Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in northwest China is the first region that has experimented with the program. According to SEPA, Ningxia's double-digit economic growth in the past five years has laid a solid foundation for its implementation.

 

(Xinhua News Agency March 5, 2006)