Back-to-back CBA defeats for Nanjing

16:48, June 22, 2020

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  Guangzhou upset Liaoning, Nanjing beat Beijing in CBA

  Liaoning's Guo Ailun in action during the match in Qingdao, Shandong province, June 23, 2020. Mayo, lost to the Guangzhou Loong Lions 106-102, while the Nanjing Monkey Kings beat the Beijing Ducks 93-90 in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) league on Tuesday.Liaoning's Guo Ailun finished with

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  Afforestation brings mining area back to life

  On these scorching days, a group of people in grass hats walks through a mining area with hoes, shovels or buckets in Xinfang town, Yichun city, Jiangxi Province. They are planting grass and trees in the area that was just mined.Villagers walk through a mining area with hoes, shovels and buckets for planting grass in Xinfang town, East Chinas Jiangxi Province on June 17. (Photos: Peoples Daily)Xinfang relies on mining thanks to its rich mineral resources such as kaolinite. But mining has also caused serious pollution. Since 2016, the local government has started an ecological restoration program, treating and greening abandoned mining areas. Now 202 hectares of old mines have been revived with green trees and grasses.A villager fixes the turf with wooden sticks to prevent it from slipping in Xinfang town, East Chinas Jiangxi Province on June 17.To reduce dust pollution and prevent soil erosion, villagers will now grow trees and grasses immediately after a mine is exploited.Villagers shoulder turf and work on a mining area in Xinfang town, East Chinas Jiangxi Province on June 17.Xinfang is not the only example of mine afforestation in China. Lengshuijiang in Central China’s Hunan Province, known as the worlds antimony capital, has managed to plant trees on one-third of its core mining area.(Compiled by Huang Jingjing and Li Yingtao)

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  Nation bringing desert land back into productivity

  A forestry worker leads several mules with saplings on their backs to plant trees in a mountainous area in the west suburbs of Beijing on Tuesday. (Photo: Xinhua)China has turned 8.8 million hectares of desertified land green since 2016, the forestry authority announced on Wednesday.Another 2.2 million hectares of desertified land will be brought under control by the end of the year.According to the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20), China aimed to treat 10 million hectares of desertified land.June 17 marks the United Nations Desertification and Drought Day, which will focus on changing public attitudes toward the leading driver of desertification and land degradation-humanitys relentless production and consumption.Desertification is the process of degradation of once fertile land into arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas. The main reason for desertification is attributed to overexploitation and inappropriate use of land areas through deforestation, overgrazing and substandard irrigation practices.On Wednesday, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration announced the establishment of a special office to implement the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.According to the UN, land degradation has impacted almost a third of the Earths arable land in the last 40 years, a landmass of nearly half the size of the European Union. China is severely affected by desertification, with more than a quarter of its territory covered in desert."Chinas fight against desertification is stepping into a new period with the hardest-hit region to be recovered. And our target this year will focus on the border regions and major sources of sand storms," said Sun Guoji, director of the administrations anti-desertification department.Apart from promoting current greening projects nationwide, he said related departments will improve the legal system and make goals to combat desertification in the 14th Five-Year Plan starting in 2021...