Published by: World Tibet Network News, Monday, June 24, 1996

XINING (June 24) XINHUA - In a move to cover the "roof of the world" with green, 130 million trees have been planted in recent years in northwest China's Qinghai Province, located on the famous Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Statistics show that to date, the province has closed a total of 270,000 ha of hillsides to facilitate afforestation, considerably improving the harsh environment there.

The project has enabled the province to see an increase in the total reserve of its forest resources, and an improvement of its fragile ecological environment.

In the next five years, the province will implement another large-scale afforestation project, which will cover 27 counties and cities there.

The province also will systematically establish a group of cash tree production bases in order to fully utilize resources such as the Chinese prickly ash and pteridophyte.