Gansu that is suffering worsening desertification will make a breakthrough in desertification control by guaranteeing the legitimate rights of overseas organizations who joined the efforts as it officially launched its rules for the implementation of the country's sand control law.

A spokesman for the provincial government said that this marked the further opening of the province in the work.

According to a 1999-2000 survey of 36 counties in the province, the desertified farmland amounted to 1.37 million hectares, accounting for 69 percent of the total arable land.

(www.cenews.com.cn February 24, 2003)