China closes 10 hydroelectric power stations to protect the Qilian Mountains

Beijing. January 26. Silkroadnews - China will close 10 hydroelectric power stations to protect the Qilian Mountains, the Global Times reported.
“Northwest China's Gansu Province will close 10 hydropower stations this year, in efforts to protect the national nature reserve in the Qilian Mountains,” the report said.
More than 200 herders and 61,000 sheep will also be moved out of the core zone of the reserve.
Laying on the border of Gansu and Qinghai provinces the Qilian Mountains were given a status of the national nature reserve in 1988. However, due to lack of control many illegal mining projects and hydropower stations have sprung up there in recent years, bringing significant damage to the environment.
Last year, the central government found serious violations in economic activities carried out in the Qilian Mountains, including over-exploitation of mineral resources, illegal construction and operation of hydropower facilities, excessive emissions by local enterprises, as well as the failure of local officials to rectify existing environmental issues.
Supervision of the environment was tightened, and the vice-governor Yang Zixing received a serious warning on the failure to fulfill his duties.
In December, the provincial authorities revised local environmental regulations to ban production activities, including mining, in the core and buffer zones of the Qilian reserve.