Qinghai Province in northwest China has returned 150,000 hectares of land for growing tress and grass in over the past three years, and the figure is likely to almost double in 2003, said Vice-Governor Mu Dongsheng Sunday.

Qinghai Province in northwest China has returned 150,000 hectares of land for growing tress and grass in over the past three years, and the figure is likely to almost double in 2003, a vice-governor said Sunday.

The province began the afforestation project in 2000 to protect the sources of China's three major rivers -- the Yangtze, Yellow and Lancang rivers.

Covering 31 counties and cities, the program has effectively improved the ecological environment of the source area of the three rivers, said Vice-Governor Mu Dongsheng.

In 2003, the project would extend to 41 counties and cities, and about 146,000 hectares of cultivated land and wild land would be returned to woodland and grassland in 2003, said Mu.

The emphasis would be put on the area around Qinghai Lake and areas suffering serious desertification and soil erosion, he added.

The provincial government has announced a phone number for the public to help in the smooth implementation of the project.

Qinghai, located in the northeast of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau with an average altitude of more than 3,000 meters, is known as "China's water tower."

However, the adverse climate leads to serious desertification and soil erosion. The forest coverage rate in the whole province is only 3.1 percent, the lowest in China.

(Xinhua News Agency April 13, 2003)