Green Technology to Fight Poverty in Western China

Green Technology to Fight Poverty in Western China

November 21, 2006

An Innovative Initiative Between UNDP and the Chinese Government to Reduce Poverty and Improve Ecosystems for Chinese Ethnic Minorities

    BEIJING, Nov. 21 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Communities
living on the arid mountains bordering Guizhou, Sichuan and
Yunnan may soon be able to use the seeds of a locally grown
tree for bio-fuel production to increase their energy
supply, through a 4-year United Nations project aiming to
alleviate poverty in western China. 

    (Logo:
http://211.154.41.99:9080/xprn/sa/20061107113358-34.jpg ) 

    Jointly established by the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) in China and the Chinese government, the
US$ 8.585 million project was launched today in Beijing,
aiming to use green technologies to reduce poverty and
improve fragile ecosystems in western China, where the
number of the total poor is growing. 

    Entitled "Green Poverty Reduction in China",
the project prioritizes communities of ethnic minorities
living in ecologically fragile and remote regions of China.
The aim is to create new sources of sustenance and to
develop green energy for those areas involved in the
project. "Fostering the potential of green industries
and energy sources in remote mountain areas and deserts is
an important vehicle which can generate income and
employment opportunities, while protecting the
environment," said Alessandra Tisot, UNDP Senior
Deputy Resident Representative in China.

    Through bio-diesel production in Guizhou, Sichuan and
Yunnan, the project aims to create a market for the
oil-rich seed of the Jatropha Curcas L tree.  The tree
grows wild in the mountainous regions of western China and
is currently used on farms as hedging and to prevent
desertification. Its wide-spread cultivation would
hopefully lead to more fertile land in an area where soil
erosion and aridity create difficulties for agriculture and
the ecosystem.

    Along with the production of bio-diesel, the project
will develop Jarrah Dayun production in Xinjiang which is
used as raw material for traditional medicine, and provide
small-scale wind turbines to poor herdsmen in Inner
Mongolia.  Best practice and lessons gained through these
pilot sites will be disseminated as the initiative aims to
be extended across the country.

    This initiative is jointly established between UNDP,
the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), and the
China International Center For Economic and Technical
Exchanges (CICETE) under the Ministry of Commerce.

    UNDP fosters human development to empower women and men
to build better lives in China. As the UN's development
network, UNDP draws on a world of experience to assist
China in developing its own solutions to the country's
development challenges. Through partnerships and
innovation, UNDP works to achieve the Millennium
Development Goals and an equitable Xiao Kang society by
reducing poverty, strengthening the rule of law, promoting
environmental sustainability, and fighting HIV/AIDS.   

    For more information, please contact: 

     Ms. Zhang Wei
     Media Officer, UNDP China
     Tel:   [phone]
     Email: [e-mail]
     Web:   http://www.undp.org.cn  

SOURCE  United Nations Development Programme