Shou Jiahua, vice minister of land and resources, joined a popular geo-science information activity in Beijing's downtown plaza Xidan Sunday.

She said China has made efforts in sustainable utilization of the geo-relics by building protection areas and national geographic parks.

In addition to a recent list of 11 national geographic parks, China will designate more of them to effectively protect and utilize the geo-relics, said the vice minister.

The Earth Day was launched by non-governmental societies in 1970s to raise the public awareness of environmental protection. The Chinese government has organized publicity activities from 1990s, which successfully attracted the public attention.

However, most of the Chinese people are still unaware of their country's endangered geo-relics whose rich resources and big variety is widely recognized.

The vice minister expressed her hope that more experts in geographic studies will join them to provide professional knowledge to the public.

(People's Daily 04/23/2001)