China: Pro-environment sacrifices to reap bigger gains

NANCHANG -- Although the winter solstice has passed, rice ears hanging down from the stems are visible in farmlands by the Poyang Lake, China's largest freshwater lake, which has become a winter haven for over 100 species of migratory birds.In addition to 66.7 hectares of unreaped rice, 33 hectares of lotus root fields and gorgon fruit farms by the lake have been left unharvested this year, as local authorities and wildlife conservationists joined efforts to increase the food stock for wild waterfowl wintering in the lake area."The severe summer floods have affected the growth of aquatic plants on which the birds wintering in the lake depend for food," said Sun Zhiyong, an expert from the Institute of Zoology in East China's Jiangxi province, where the lake is located.Foreseeing the food shortage for the migratory birds in winter, local departments of agriculture and forestry have reached agreements with 16 households living by the lake to leave their rice unharvested as part of ...