A concert to promote water preservation and environment protection will be held on the bank of the Yellow River in Guide County of northwest Qinghai Province on June 17, 2009.

A view of lakes in the Three-River-Source Natural Reserve

The concert will be held on World Desertification and Drought Prevention Day and will feature singers from all over the world. Among those are Spanish tenor Jose Carreras, American mezzo soprano Krista River and "Nightingale of South India" K. S. Chitra. They will sing songs related to major rivers on the earth, such as the Ganges, Volga, Rhine, Danube, Mississippi, Amazon, and China's own Yellow and Yangtze rivers. All the singers invited to the concert come from the countries where the rivers run through, according to the concert organizer.

Jose Carreras will perform Granada, a Spanish folksong, and In a Faraway Fairyland, a folk love song by Chinese musician Wang Luobin. He will also sing a song with Malaysian Chinese singer Mindy Ke.

The concert will be broadcasted worldwide by China Central Television (CCTV) and Beijing TV.

The concert is one of the water protection events initiated by the Qinghai provincial government. "Qinghai is a province of abundant water resources. With the deterioration of water reserves, we should spare no efforts to protect the lifeline of humankind and it's our responsibility to call on people around the world to fight against desertification and drought," said Vice Governor of Qinghai Jidi Majia, at a press conference on April 17.

"That's why we hold the concert on World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, which falls on June 17 every year."

The Three-River-Source Natural Reserve, the place where the world famous Yangtze, Yellow and Lancang rivers originate, lies in the hinterland of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and covers an area of 360,000 km², almost half of the area of Qinghai. Jidi Majia said the central government has earmarked billions for environmental protection and ecological conservation in the area since the natural reserve was established. "The provincial government has also put the ecology of the area prior to the economic development," said Jidi.

A series of events themed "Water and Life" will be presented toward the end of April, including photo shows and TV documentaries. The organizer will collect ecological and environmental protection logos on the Internet and select protection ambassadors.

Another program, "Green Seed," which is co-organized by the provincial government and the beverage producer Uni-President, will be launched in May. The program will recruit 50 college students nationwide to take an environmental protection tour in the nature reserve in July, according to Yang Shouzheng, general manager of the company.

(China.org.cn by Huang Shan, April 17, 2009)