Zhangye mayor shares city's plan to a sustainable future

The purpose of these policies is to minimize the costs, and the risks involved, in starting new and innovative businesses.

How will you balance ecological preservation with economic growth?

A key responsibility of the Zhangye government is to protect its delicate ecological environment. Zhangye is the last protective screen ofthe Qinghai-Tibet Plateau against the Gobi Desert in the north.

So, it's vital we safeguard this region. In fact, the number of mines in Zhangye fell from 846 in early 1990s to fewer than 200 now.

In the nature reserve of the Qilian mountains, the number of mining enterprises dropped from 707 to 70, among which only 40 are still operating.

The number of herdsmen and farmers in the nature reserve has dropped from 18,000 to 3,000. More than 80 percent of the grasslands in the Qilian mountains are well protected.

Since 2001, Zhangye has given half of the Heihe River's water, which originates from Qilian's snow mountains, to the downstream Ejina in Inner Mongolia in the Gobi Desert, a source of sand storms in North China.

Farmers in Zhangye have responded to the challenge by replacing water-intensive wheat and rice crops with more sustainable produce such as millet and corn.

Developing tourism can also help Zhangye strike a balance between ecological preservation and economic growth.

We have diverse kinds of landscapes, a number of places of historical interest, and colorful ethnic cultures which are major attractions. But an urgent task is to raise local people's awareness of their roles as hosts in a tourist city.