A recent satellite remote sensing survey shows that the amount of eroded soil in Yunnan and Sichuan provinces and Chongqing Municipality has been reduced to 1.3 billion tons from 1.5 billion tons, a drop of 11 percent. Forest coverage in the region has risen from 28 percent to 35 percent.

Zhang Zhongwei, director of the Yangtze River Water Resources Committee, attributed the change to the comprehensive treatment of soil erosion at various levels in the region and a nationwide afforestation campaign.

China has invested tens of billions of yuan over the past decade in reducing soil erosion and building tree belts along the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze.

To date, 60,000-square-km eroded fields have been turned into fertile farmland. The amount of land covered with grass and trees has risen from 22 percent to 41 percent. Farmers’ per capita annual net income has climbed to over 2,000 yuan on average thanks to profits from building orchards and to the higher grain output on improved farmland.

Huize County, which is adjacent to the Jinsha River, a major tributary of Yangtze, planted trees on 200,000 hectares of land in the past 10 years, expanding plant coverage from 17 percent to 32 percent of the county’s total area.

Liu Zhongyou, a 58-year-old farmer in Huize County, said: “In the past, my family opened up new farmland every year, but we found it harder to live when rivers dried up and forest disappeared.”

“Inspired by the government-initiated ‘grain for green’ program, I have converted 2.6 hactares of low-yielding farmland into green areas. Consequently, flour and rice have replaced sweet potato as the staple food of the family," he added.

The Yangtze River, known as the cradle of the Chinese nation, runs through 11 provinces and cities with a total length of 6,300 km. The river valley covers a quarter of China’s total farmland, one-third of its population and two-fifths of its total industrial and agricultural output value.

However, the region suffers from serious water and soil erosion due to land degradation, overgrazing and deforestation.

Shi Liren, a water conservation expert, warned that the eco-environment at the upper reaches of the Yangtze River is still quite fragile, despite improvement over the past few years. It is a long-term and arduous task to restore the environment in the region.

The State Forestry Administration plans to invest 100 billion yuan in an afforestation project along the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and the Yellow River in the upcoming 10 years.

Local governments are also drafting their own plans to convert crop-fields into forest and grass land.

(People’s Daily 09/27/2000)