Northwest China's Gansu Province is moving local farmers and herdsmen out of the Qilianshan Nature Reserve to protect the ecological environment.

The 2.7-million-hectare reserve is located in the northwest part of Gansu. It is an important water source for millions of people as well as the industrial and agricultural production in the west Yellow River Corridor area.

Frequent ecological disasters and the activities of more than 50,000 farmers, herdsmen and forest rangers have brought serious pressures to the "lifeline," said a nature reserve official.

During the past years, Qilianshan has suffered serious soil erosion. The nature reserve is experiencing significant desertification and many animal species are on the verge of extinction.

To preserve the diversity of animal species in the nature reserve and check the environmental deterioration in the area, the Gansu provincial government launched the migration project in 2003.

"There were pastures everywhere 20 years ago. But now a great deal of grassland is naked and it is difficult for us to raise cattle, let alone develop production," said Li Guoyong, a herdsman from Xiniumao Village of Sunan County.

Thanks to the migration project, Li's nomadic life has ended and he moved into his new house at the beginning of this year.

The provincial government has already spent nearly 100 million yuan (US$12 million) in the project, relocating about 20,000 people.

The government said the project will be finished at the end of 2008.

(Xinhua News Agency July 31, 2005)