Sino-African co-op to combat water and soil erosion

By Liang Chao (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-10-10 18:00

China and 11 African countries have kicked off a mutual program planning to work together in order to deal with common environmental challenges caused by water and soil erosion. These two issues are affecting over one-third of China's territories as well as the sustainability of many African countries.

More than 20 experts and officials from the African countries, including Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania, gathered in Beijing on Friday for a workshop to share China's successful experiences on watershed management and seek cooperation in policy-making, planning, financing, monitoring, evaluation, participation and new technology.

The African contingent will also tour Northwest China's Loess Plateau in Shaanxi and Gansu provinces to inspect water and soil conservation projects China has launched with the help of World Bank as well as other foreign funded ones launched with government grants, such as pilots supported by Britain.

Officials and experts from the World Bank and the United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DFID) have spoken highly China's efforts to control chronic water and soil loss, as well the consequent rehabilitation of fragile eco-systems and reduction of regional poverty.

The World Bank has lent China some US$300 million since 1992 to help control the worsening water and soil erosion, rehabilitate eco-systems and reduce regional poverty in the Losses Plateau, one of the world's worst eroded areas.

"Over several years, rehabilitation of water sources, better conservation of soil techniques and farming practices have all created one of the most successful and inspiring efforts to combat land degradation in the Loess Plateau, an area as large as France, inhabited by over 50 million people," said Adrian Davis, a DFID official, at the workshop.

His agency has, since 1992, supported some of China's pilots of watershed management to improve local water supply, environmental sanitation and basic education on ecological protection.

To date, Chinese authorities have initially brought water and soil erosion under control in 38,000 watersheds. These cover about one million sq km of target areas throughout the country including pilots on the Losses Plateau and key upstream areas of the Yangtze River, E Jingping, vice-minister of the water resources, said.

"There is still a long way for us to go," he said, "over the coming years, about 2 million sq km of eroded territories of the country will be in urgent need of rehabilitation and management."

"Our African colleagues have developed many effective programs and gained experience against their serious desertification and consequent land degradation, we hope to learn from them through the workshop," he said.