A US-based non-governmental organization (NGO) has launched a program for environmental protection in Beijing in an effort to help build "Green Beijing, Green Olympics," the organizer announced in Beijing Saturday.
   
"Eco Action Beijing," as the program called, will invite the primary school, middle school and university students in Beijing to participate in the campaign for public welfare, said Katherine Jiang, outreach coordinator of the Roots and Shoots Beijing Office.
   
Roots and Shoots is an environmental and humanitarian program for young people under the US-based Jane Goodall Institute, an NGO founded in 1977 to promote wildlife research and conservation, as well as animal welfare, particularly of chimpanzees.
   
"Green Beijing, My Home" is the slogan of the program, which will last till the close of the 29th Beijing Olympic Games in 2008,Jiang said.
   
This year, the program will focus on educating the students in 35 middle schools of Beijing about environmental protection, she said.
   
The goals of the program, she said, are to pick a group of top "Green Schools" that are committed to promoting environmental protection education for long, to train a group of top environmental protection instructors, and to help enhance the youngsters' concerns about environmental issues.
   
"We will offer financial support and professional guidance to them," Jiang said.
  
"We hope the program can later be lifted to a nationwide popular campaign that aims to educate youngsters about environmental protection."
   
The Jane Goodall Institute is named after world-renowned scientist Dr. Jane Goodall, who is well known for her pioneering research in chimpanzee behavior begun in 1960.
   
In 1994, the first Roots and Shoots group was established in China, and in 2000, Roots and Shoots offices were set up both in Beijing and Shanghai. There are now more than 300 Roots and Shoots groups at primary schools, middle schools and universities across China.

(Xinhua News Agency September 25, 2005)