The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) will invest 1.2 billion euros in
the coming years to help improve the environment in the valley of
the Heilongjiang River which runs the border between China and
Russia.
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The money will be mainly used in the construction of nature
reserves in the border areas , building of a cross-border passage
for Siberian tigers, protection of valuable forests, environmental
protection in the Xingkai Lake area and development of tourism in
northeast China's Heilongjiang
Province.
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This is part of a program launched by the WWF to build a "green
corridor," for the purpose of maintaining balanced development
between mankind and nature, in the valley of Heilongjiang River
which runs through Russia, Mongolia and China.??
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Preparations for ecological protection in the river valley areas in
Mongolia are going smoothly, according to sources with the
WWF.
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Zhu Chunquan, forest program director of WWF China, said the WWF
has during the past three years invested about US$1.5 million in
Heilongjiang Province and another US$4 million in Russia to support
China and Russian to build nature reserves and develop projects for
sustainable use of natural resources.
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Research has found that the Heilongjiang River, with abundant
natural resources, is one of the few rivers in the world which have
been well preserved. The river valley has the richest wetland
resources and forest biodiversity in the world.
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Zhu said the protection of biodiversity should not be separated by
boundaries within the 1.84 million square kilometers region
irrigated by the Heilongjiang River, among which about 940,000
square kilometers are in China.
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Many species such as the Siberian tiger and black bear need a large
habitat. Hundreds of bird species such as the red-crowned crane and
white crane also take it as a migrant passage or habitats, Zhu
said. Governments, companies and institutes in the region should
work with international organizations to carry out biodiversity
conservation.?
(Xinhua News Agency June 18, 2005)