Read at : Google Alert – desertification
http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201108260374.html
New Toyota Afforestation Project Announced in China
Toyota City, Japan, August 26, 2011 — Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) announces that its Chinese subsidiary Toyota Motor (China) Investment Co., Ltd. (TMCI) held a signing ceremony on August 26 marking its agreement to carry out the Toyota Green Greater Beijing Economic Zone Fengning Afforestation Project. The afforestation project is to be carried out over three years, starting in 2011, by TMCI in collaboration with the Hebei Province Forestry Bureau and the Fengning Manchu Autonomous County Forestry Bureau.
Representatives from Hebei provincial government, the Hebei Province Forestry Bureau, Fengning Manchu Autonomous County Forestry Bureau, and TMC attended the ceremony. Volunteers from TMCI, other Toyota affiliates and offices in China also attended and carried out tree-planting activities.
The aim of the project is to plant trees in a 150-hectare area over three years in the Nanshakouzi region in the northern part of Hebei Province (including Fengning County). This area serves as a water source for Beijing and Tianjin, but is experiencing particularly severe desertification that has caused sandstorms affecting those two cities. The project also seeks to encourage the development of greening activities that establish economic independence for local residents via earnings from the afforested areas. This aim is identical to that of the 10-year project in Xiaobazi Township that began in 2001.
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