The Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, an arid area in northwest China, has curtailed erosion over an area of 4,144 square kilometers in the past four years.

Of the total area, 301,300 hectares were planted in trees and grass and 98,000 hectares were used for dry farming.

Soil erosion remains the world's biggest environmental problem,threatening both developed and developing countries.

Located on the Loess Plateau, Ningxia, with China's largest Muslim population, has a fragile ecology. Soil erosion affects 75 percent of the region's land, where more than 100 million tons of soil and sand are washed into the Yellow River each year.

Since 1998, the regional government has urged farmers in southern Ningxia to plant trees and build dry farming plots on eroded lands, while banning herding in central and northern parts of Ningxia to maintain the ecological balance.

Ningxia has controlled erosion on 10,000 square kilometers, reducing the amount of sand washed into the Yellow River by 40 million tons annually. The acreage of improved lands in each of the past four years topped 1,000 square kilometers.

(Xinhua News Agency July 12, 2002)