Tibet in southwest China plans to invest 35.2 billion yuan (US$4.3 billion) in ecological protection in the coming 15 years, the regional environmental protection administration said Tuesday.

 

According to the outline for ecological protection in the Tibetan Plateau, the regional government will earmark 10.7 billion yuan to build 12 key projects between 2006 and 2010 to curb environmental and ecological deterioration on "the Roof of the World."

 

The rest of the investment will be made in the following years.

 

Protecting the ecology in Tibet is beneficial not only to regional economic and social development, but also to local ecological security and state security, said Li Wenhua, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

 

Li is one of the experts who drew out the outline, which will be submitted to the State Council, or China's cabinet, for approval.

 

The ecological environment has been undermined in Tibet over the last few years due to the desertification of pasture and human activities such as tourism, hunting and felling of trees, Li said.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 11, 2006)