10,000 eco-villages in next five years

[photopress:China85_River_Village.jpg,full,alignright]During the 11th Five-year Plan period (2006-10) China will build 10,000 eco-villages in 500 counties that are based on the recycling of resources. This is part of a national program to make people rich by constructing environmentally friendly homes. (Note our illustration is a village which is not as environmentally friendly as intended.)

The Vice Minister for Agriculture, Wei Chao’an, at a work meeting recently in Luoyang, Henan Province in central China said the program aims to introduce clean energy to more than 80 percent of farmer’s households, promote methane, dispose and reuse over 80 percent of household waste and sewage, and improve hygiene.

Other goals include reusing 80 percent of stalks and a 5 to 10 percent higher utilization rate of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, as well as sustainable use of grassland and fishing resources. According to the Ministry’s plan, and bear in mind clearly that this is a plan not an actuality until completed, by 2010, 40 million, or 28.4 percent of rural households nationwide will be able to use methane. By 2010 this will have grown to 70 percent.
Source: People’s Daily Online