Lijiang City in southwest China's Yunnan Province is well-known to the world for its beautiful scenery and traditional folk customs. Lying 280 kilometers from the city is Lugu Lake, which has also won the favor of tourists in recent years for its natural beauty and mysterious Mosuo culture, Xinhua News Agency reported on March 29.

The Lugu is a lake on the boundary where Ninglang Yi Autonomous County in Yunnan Province meets Yanyuan County in Sichuan Province. Covering an area of more than 50 square kilometers and at an elevation of 2,690 meters, it is the highest lake in the province and one of the largest freshwater lakes in the country. The average depth of the lake stands at 45 meters, with the deepest point reaching 93 meters.

With the rapid development of tourism and the economy in recent years, the local environment and its cultural landscapes have been confronted with an unprecedented challenge. Statistics from the Ninglang County show that thousands of tourists come to visit the scenic spot every year, leaving behind large amounts of sewage and garbage.

Yu Lijun, an official from the Lugu Lake Tourism Management Committee, told Xinhua that local government authorities have taken a series of measures to tackle the worsening environment and ecology in the lake area over the past years. "We must break the vicious circle of 'exploiting while polluting' and thoroughly remove the causes of environmental problems," he said.

"Since the committee was set up in 2004, it has demolished or transformed most of the buildings put up in contravention of rules and regulations in the lake area," said Yu. "The whole layout of the Lige Village has been moved 80 meters back from the lake. Meanwhile, we have built sewage disposal systems and garbage disposal plants to tackle the problem of water pollution."

Yu said that the Lijiang city government implemented state-level Project 863 in the area in 2006. The project involves pollution control technology, environmental development, poverty alleviation, natural resource management, and community construction and development.

"Local villagers have been cooperating well with the government," Yu stressed. "They actively participate in removing unauthorized buildings, reforesting cultivated land in harmony with local conditions, and improving environmental sanitation in residential areas."

Over the past five years, Lijiang City has realized its environmental goal of "Never let any sewage flow into the Lugu Lake," according to Xinhua. Currently, the vegetation coverage rate has obviously increased and soil erosion has effectively ceased.

Local statistics also show that average visibility in the waters of the lake has increased from 11 meters in previous years to 12.1 meters in 2008, a first-level standard authorized by the state. The number of black-headed gulls (Larus ridibundushas) has climbed to more than 2,000 and that of other wild water-fowl to more than 100,000.

(China.org.cn April 1, 2009)