China on the move: Poverty challenges eco-system

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Losing one's livelihood to environmental protection is an obstacle on the country's road to sustainable growth. This is what's happening to farmers living around the Caohai Nature reserve in Guizhou province. As CCTV reporter Zhang Lu finds out, reducing poverty remains a big challenge.

Caohai means "the Sea of Grass." The 25-square-kilometer lake area is the largest and most important wetland in southwest China.

For decades, fifty-six-year old Jiang Wenzhu made a living fishing in Caohai. The annual income for his 8-member family is about 10,000 yuan or roughly 1,400 US dollars.

Many Caohai residents like him, live around the poverty line. Making way for eco-system protection is the main reason.

Caohai shrank to 5 square kilometers in the 1970's due to drainage and cultivation. Great efforts have been made to restore the body of water to 25 square kilometers in the late 1980's.

Jiang Wenzhu of Weining County, Guizhou, said, "At that time, more than two thirds of our land was submerged. It greatly impacted our income and life."

Government control on fishing also reduces his income. And to reduce pollution, local governments closed many factories. Jiang says he understands all these are for the good of Caohai.