China has made improvement in her environmental protection, Director and Lead Author of the World Development Report 2003 Zmarak Shalizi said on Wednesday.

Zmarak told Xinhua on Wednesday just after the release of the new World Bank report which said China has realized that deforestation in some western areas of the country is a major cause for flooding and thus begun to plant more trees in those areas.

Zmarak also said that some once-heavily-polluted cities, which could not be recognized by satellite systems, have been changed and blue skies have appeared again.

Zmarak singled out the change in ways of cooking, shutting down polluting factories in cities of the northern area as positive examples which have helped improve the environment.

Zmarak noted that China has combined its efforts of environmental protection with the strive for economic growth, saying that China has made improvement in environmental protection without reducing the economic growth. But he stressed more work to be done in this regard.

The World Bank on Wednesday released a new report which highlighted the environmental and social aspects to achieve the goal of sustainable development over the next 50 years.

(People?s Daily August 22, 2002)