Wild camels in a nature reserve in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region will enjoy a quiet environment as a plan to build a highway through the reserve has been revised.

The wild camel in Xinjiang is an endangered species whose numbers are estimated at about 800. To protect them, the Chinese government has set up a nature reserve around Lop Nur in cooperation with the UN Environment Program.

According to an original construction plan, the highway linking Hami and Lop Nur will pass through the reserve. However, local environmental authorities found that part of the highway could affect the activities of the camels.

It then proposed to the local road authorities that the highway should bypass the central and buffer zones of the reserve, which has been finally adopted.

(Xinhua News Agency June 25, 2003)