Yuxi to shield Fuxian Lake by creating wetland area
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E-mail China Daily, September 30, 2013
The three lakes on the plateau — Fuxian, Xingyun and Qilu — are top priorities for the local authorities seeking to control pollution. Due in part to Fuxian's role as a strategic water resource for the city, authorities want to maintain its water purity level, which has been listed as Grade 1 generally, Rao said.
Authorities say that local economic growth will help pay for the environmental protection measures.
Yuxi's revenue for the first half of 2013 was 22.4 billion yuan, an 8.2 percent increase on the same period in 2012, Rao said.
Rao said the industrial structure of the area will be altered step by step to move farmers from the area around Fuxian Lake. To make room for the wetland, 15,000 residents on the north shores will be relocated to reduce waste as much as possible near the protected area, Chen said.
Over the next five years, 2.35 million square meters of houses will be dismantled, and 373 hectares of farmland reverted to natural conservation habitat, while 21,780 people surrounding the lake will be moved to other residential complexes, Chen said.
The city government will implement five related projects to realize the goal of blue sky, clean water and increased forest coverage, based around reducing pollution and growing more plants, Rao said.
Fostering forestry will be another important priority for the city. At present, 54 percent of Yuxi's land is covered with trees. The city government will plant more trees near the three lakes, especially Fuxian, to increase that figure to 57 percent by 2015."
Rao worked in the Youth League system for 16 years and has visited all 129 counties in Yunnan, from remote and impoverished households in rural areas to urban families.
"I have a clearer picture of how people live and in what ways officials should improve," Rao said. "Environmental protection is crucial for social development, and we won't follow the old model of contaminating something and then finding remedies. Meanwhile, we also have to find ways to boost the economy and raise living standards for the locals."
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