Project no.1 BEIJING (Environment).

Leopards have returned to the forested hills around Beijing, boosting the city's campaign to stage a clean, "Green Olympics" in 2008.

"Of course they are not wandering among the skyscrapers," Gao Wu, a biology professor at Capital Normal University, is quoted as saying. "But it's true that big wild animals like leopards, boars and wolves have made their homes in the city."

Gao's team of zoologists found footprints, fresh excrement, hair and prints of 10 leopards during a recent wildlife survey of the area.

Locals snarled over leopards eating their pets 50 years ago, but until recently there had been no sign of the cats since 1990.In recent years, the only big cats found within the city limits were caged at zoos, pet markets or served in exotic restaurants.

But the leopards, which survive on deer and hares, are not expected to meet the same fate.

Locals have turned over their hunting rifles and cooperated with a government campaign to protect wildlife in Beijing's underrated forest reserves, Gao said.

"I believe it is possible for the population of wild leopards to increase to 30, the figure of 50 years ago," he said

Project no. 2 ANHUI (Environment/Poverty)

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $147 million loan to the People's Republic of China for an acid rain control project in Anhui Province in the central part of the country. The Acid Rain Control and Environmental Improvement Project is the first ADB-supported acid rain control project. It will reduce the pollution that causes acid rain in four cities in Anhui.

Acid rain is emerging as a major concern in Asia. Soil acidification damages agriculture and forestry, increased acidity upsets the ecology of rivers and lakes, and acid deposits damage cultural historical structures.

Air quality in the poor inland Anhui province has deteriorated to levels harmful to human health. Acid rain has been especially damaging in the ecologically rich Yangtze River Valley, more seriously than in other parts of the country.

"This project will improve health and drinking water for residents and provide better working conditions for state enterprise workers," said Piya Abeygunawardena, ADB's senior
economist for environment. He noted that other benefits include enhanced agriculture and forestry productivity, and more direct and indirect employment. In addition, investment in cleaner production and technology transfer will promote economic growth and reduce poverty.

The total cost of the project is $325m. Apart from the ADB loan, financing will come from the provincial and municipal governments, domestic banks and the industrial enterprises.

Project no. 3 NATIONAL (Environment)

China has adopted a five-year plan to reduce the tide of pollution across the country. The plan says that by 2005, major pollutants, such as sulphur dioxide, must be cut by ten per cent from their level in 2000. The Chinese news agency said the government had allocated eighty-four-billion dollars to achieve this objective -- nearly doubling its spending on pollution control in the previous five years. The state environment agency said it would pay special attention to the Three Gorges Dam area of the Yangtze River -- where a controversial scheme is underway to build the world's largest hydroelectric station. Recent research on industrial greenhouse gases indicates China has made significant cuts in emissions in the past five years.

Project no.4 KUNMING (Environment).

Work to save the red panda in Kunming on the Vietnam border.