The Japanese non-governmental organization Green Earth Network has been working closely with people in Datong in north China's Shanxi Province on an afforestation project funded by the Japanese Government to improve the environment and enhance living standards.

The non-governmental organization has been working with the Datong authorities for 11 years in areas on the Loess Plateau suffering from severe soil erosion.

With funding of over 17 million yuan (US$2.1 million) from the Japanese Government's Grass-roots Project, forests covering 3,400 hectares have been planted in Datong since 1992, according to Chai Jingyun, the Sino-Japanese project's chief Chinese representative.

Takami Kunio, the 55-year-old director of the Green Earth Network, explained why he came to China to work on the project by saying: "If the environment is damaged, everyone on Earth will be affected. It is a global problem."

Kunio said his aim, when setting up the network, was to conduct international environmental protection.

The State Council awarded Kunio the Friendship Award in 2001 for his long-term devotion to environmental protection in China.

In 1997, Kunio and his colleagues started helping farmers plant apricots in Wucheng Township in Datong's Hunyuan County.

Wu Chunzhen, director of the Green Earth Network's Datong office, said: "In the past, it was very hard for newly planted trees to survive here as there is nearly no rain at all in spring, an important period for plants' growth.

"But things changed after the Japanese experts came here," she said.

Kunio and his colleagues helped local residents add sand around the tree roots to help water seep into the soil as the earth there is very glutinous.

Farmer Ma Wenyuan said: "The method is very effective." Ma said his family became prosperous by planting apricots and selling the kernels.

Environmental projects financed by the Japanese Grass-roots Project have been successful in Shanxi Province, said Masahiko Yamada, an official with the Japanese Embassy in Beijing.

Yamada said the projects have proved to be successful first steps towards even greater achievements.

"Japan and China are expected to strengthen bilateral relations in the light of these co-operative projects," he said.

The Japanese Government started the Grass-roots Project to China in 1991 to provide aid to China's poverty-stricken areas in an effort to improve medical and educational facilities as well as the environment there.

(China Daily August 19, 2003)