From 2007, the Jatropha Curcas L tree, which grows wild, will be used to produce bio-diesel and prevent soil erosion.

    Farmers had traditionally used the tree to contain livestock and its uniquely fragranced seeds provided oil for lamps.

    Thanks to a United Nations project, more than 1.3 million farmers in three counties of the provinces with ethnic minorities comprising 45 percent of the population, will be extracting oil from the seeds of the Jatropha Curcas L tree to improve the ecosystem, increase their energy supply and annual incomes.

    Entitled "Green Poverty Reduction in China", the 8.58 million US dollar project, jointly established by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Chinese government, is targeting minority communities in ecologically fragile and remote regions of China.

    "The cultivation area of the Jatropha Curcas L tree in the three counties totals 400,000 mu (26,667 hectare), and the figure will exceed four million mu (266,670 hectare) by 2012, which promises an increase in annual income of 500 to 700 yuan (62.5 to 87.5 US dollars)," said Xu Yunsong, programme coordinator of the project.

    Xu said environmental deterioration, with soil erosion and aridity hindering agriculture and the ecosystem, was the main cause of the region's poverty, which resulted in an average annual income of 700 yuan (87.5 US dollars) for farmers in Luodian County of Guizhou Province, one of the pilot counties.

    "The cultivation of the Jatropha Curcas L tree caters to the local dry and hot weather, which in turn, can curb the soil erosion," Xu said.

    Farmers could easily cultivate the tree, which produced seeds from the third year suitable for bio-diesel five or six times annually, and the tree could live for 50 years, he said.

    The initial funding for the project was four million US dollars with three million dollars from the Ministry of Science and Technology and the rest from the UNDP. The project would also receive funding from the State Forestry Administration, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Finance and the National Development and Reform Committee (NDRC).

    The project will develop production of Jarrah Dayun, a raw material in traditional medicine, in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and provide small wind turbines to poor herdsmen in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

    "The project unites environment-friendly concepts, advanced technology and poverty alleviation with localized exploitation of resources," said Wu Zhong, director general of the Department of International Cooperation and Social Mobilization of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development.

    Wu said previous experience had showed it was difficult to raise the income of farmers while protecting the environment. "Without the focus on environment protection, no progress can be made by blindly ploughing new fields," he said.

    "Fostering the potential of green industries and energy sources in remote mountain areas and deserts is an important vehicle to generate income and employment opportunities, while protecting the environment," said Alessandra Tisot, UNDP senior deputy resident representative in China

    "It will also mobilize farmers effectively, helping them realize common prosperity, which would enable development of the region and the stability of local social, cultural and political structures," Wu Zhong said.

    Although China has reduced the number of people living in poverty by half since 1990, it still has 23 million people below the poverty line, 46 percent of whom are minorities. More than 200million people are threatened with desertification and 11 million with electricity shortages, said Shi Dinghuan, of the State Council.

    China is stepping up efforts to develop renewable energies. According to the NDRC's Renewable Energy Medium and Long-Term Development Program, renewable energies are expected to account for 16 percent of the country's total energy sources by 2020.

    The management of a special state fund for renewable energies and measures for renewable energy project discount loans and preferential tax treatment are reportedly being worked out.

    Besides training farmers in cultivation of the trees, the project will also set up associations to coordinate local farmers, and enterprises to explore market potential for renewable energies.

    "The green poverty alleviation project will focus more on the production demand of the farmers than consumption demand, and more on restructuring local resources than introducing outside resources to promote a sustainable green industry to extend nationwide," said Wu Peng, project manager of UNDP China.