(5) Efficient maintenance of the soil, and protect farmlands in mountainous regions. 66% of the land area of China is mountainous and this contains a third of the country's farmlands. The greatest risk these farmlands are facing is the washing-away of soil. The country's restoration policy against this kind of damage aims to link the current benefit to the future benefit. It is thought that this can be done by establishing rational planning based on local natural conditions per small river-basin, carrying out large-scale, intensive and continuous flood-control works, taking biological and flood-control measures on a parallel basis, and linking the flood-control work with production.
(6) Restoration of the northern areas under desertification, and protection of farmland in that region. In the northern regions of China, the desert has expanded by 32.8 million hectares, and some 4 million hectares of farmlands in 207 counties and cities in 12 provinces are at the risk of desertification. The restoration process of the land depends on the degree of desertification, and the climatic type. In the semi-humid areas with relatively good natural conditions, the restoration work is conducted to maintain the ecological balance by rational use of resources, and to help the lands affected by the desertification to restore their productivity. For the steppes in the semi-arid areas, the projects aim to reduce the amount of grazing on pasture, by artificial fostering of vegetation between hills or on lowlands based on the forest protection network, in addition to protecting the natural vegetation. As for the draught desert zones, the projects are designed to construct a forest protection system, disseminate water-saving or irrigation technologies, grow plants for sand-erosion prevention, and promote restoration of the ecological balance.
