China spends $150 mn protecting major river sources

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Beijing, Jan 23 : China injected one billion yuan (around $158 million) in 2011 to protect the Sanjiangyuan nature reserve, where China's three major rivers have their sources.

Sanjiangyuan -- with an area of 150,000 square km -- has the sources of the Yangtze, Yellow, and Lancang rivers, Xinhua reported.

The Lancang is also known as the Mekong, which originates from China and flows through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

The money was spent on afforestation projects and recovery of degraded grasslands in the area, an official said.

The ecology deteriorated in recent years due to global warming and excessive herding, before the government initiated a 7.5-billion-yuan (over $1 billion) programme, which included the resettlement of 50,000 Tibetan herders in 2005.