Aerial photo taken on Sept 22, 2017 shows the scenery of the Saihanba forest in North China's Hebei province. [Photo/Xinhua] SHIJIAZHUANG -- Forest rangers in northern China's Saihanba Forest Farm recently received a prestigious UN environment award. On Tuesday, Saihanba afforestation community in Inner Mongolia scooped the UN Champions of the Earth Award for its outstanding contribution to restoration of degraded landscapes. As an ordinary worker at the farm, I am immensely encouraged by the award, said fire-lookout Zhao Fuzhou. The award should be credited to three generations of foresters, said Zhao Zhenyu, 78, one of Saihanba's first foresters, who began planting trees on what was then a piece of barren land in the early 1960s. After decades of hard work, Saihanba is now a vast forest covering about 93,000 hectares and an important ecological shield for Beijing and Tianjin. Every year the forest in Saihanba purifies 137 million cubic meters of water and delivers half a million tons of oxygen. Fifty-five years of afforestation efforts tell us that when one generation of foresters after another spares no efforts to improve the environment they will succeed, Zhao Zhenyu said. Erik Solheim, executive director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), hailed Saihanba community for its pioneering innovation, saying that cost effective grassroots initiatives could reclaim degraded landscapes. The Saihanba afforestation community has transformed degraded land into lush green paradise -- part of a new Great Wall of vegetation that will play a part in helping protect millions from air pollution and preserving precious water supplies, Solheim said. The international acclaim has made Saihanba's foresters feel that they shoulder greater responsibilities in afforestation to contribute to a greener world. Winning acknowledgement from UNEP marked a new starting point for our work, and we will redouble our efforts to take good care of the green treasure, said An Changming, deputy Party chief of the Saihanba Forest Farm. In 2016, the restored forest in Saihanba stimulated green sectors of the economy, generating an estimated 15.1 million U.S. dollars. Looking ahead, foresters at the farm are aiming to unleash greater potential of the forest in areas such as tourism, wind power, and carbon trading, bringing more ecological, social and economic benefits to residents in the region and beyond. paper wristbands ukcustom rubber bandscustomise fidget spinnercustom livestrong braceletswide rubber bands
South Korea's president-elect Moon Jae-in gestures to supporters at Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul, South Korea, May 9, 2017. [Photo/Agencies] SEOUL - Liberal Moon Jae-in won the South Korean presidential by-election as he gained votes enough to confirm victory, vote count results showed Wednesday. With 91.3 percent of votes counted as of 3:07 a.m. local time (1807 GMT Tuesday), Moon garnered 40.5 percent, according to the national election commission. Hong Joon-pyo of the conservative Liberty Korea Party won 24.8 percent. Even if the remaining uncounted votes go to Hong, he will not defeat Moon. It confirmed Moon's victory with certainty. Ahn Cheol-soo of the centrist People's Party garnered 21.5 percent, trailed by Yoo Seong-min of the conservative Righteous Party with 6.7 percent. Sim Sang-jung of the minor liberal Justice Party had 6.0 percent support. Moon celebrated with jubilant supporters gathering at the Gwanghwamun square in central Seoul around midnight as his victory was assured by local media outlets in an early stage of vote count. In the televised speech, Moon told supporters that he will become a president for all the people from Wednesday, saying he will become a president of unity, caring about those who did not support him in the election. Before the speech, he told reporters at his party's building that he will achieve the two main goals of reform and unity people had wished for. Four other major candidates made concessions to Moon, even before less than 10 percent of votes were counted. The concessions led local media outlets to predict an assured election of Moon.
