China Ranks First in Afforestation Preservation

Home>>Life

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, January 23, 2002

China Ranks First in Afforestation Preservation

China has preserved 46.7 million hectares of afforestation, ranking first in the world, Director of the State Forestry Administration Zhou Shengxian said Tuesday in Beijing.

"In contrast to the forest coverage rate of 8.6 percent in the early 1950s, 16.55 percent of China's territory is currently covered with 158.7 million hectares of forest," Zhou said.

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

Achievements

China has preserved 46.7 million hectares of afforestation, ranking first in the world, Director of the State Forestry Administration Zhou Shengxian said Tuesday in Beijing.

China's six largest green projects for the 21st century will all exceed in scale renowned world-level ecological projects, including Stalin's plan in the former Soviet Union, Roosevelt's project in the United States and the green programs in North Africa, Zhou told a working conference on forestry.

"In contrast to the forest coverage rate of 8.6 percent in the early 1950s, 16.55 percent of China's territory is currently covered with 158.7 million hectares of forest," Zhou said.

Sixty-five percent of China's farmland is interlaced with trees, and 20 percent of controllable deserted land has been harnessed, Zhou said.

Zhou said that by the end of 2000, China had set up 909 nature reserves, occupying over 100 million hectares, about 10.63 percent of China's territory.

China has built 1,078 forest parks and yields 67 million tons of economic forestry products per year. The laws and regulations on forestry issued by the National People's Congress and the State Council have greatly improved the legislation on forestry, he said.

More efforts needed

However, Zhou said the average of forest per person in China is only one fifth of the world level.

"With 400 million people affected by desertification, 166.7 million hectares of China's land has been encroached upon by deserts, involving 18.2 percent of the total territory."

"Five billion tons of soil are washed away in China every year," he said.

The six planned large green projects, involving over 97 percent of China's counties, will fundamentally improve China's ecological conditions, he said.

Green Great Wall to Protect North

The State Forestry Administration (SFA) is scheduled to launch the fourth phase of the world's largest ecological project - China's "Green Great Wall," the 4,480-kilometre belt of forest spanning the country's drought and desert-prone northern areas. To date the shelter belt has succeeded in protecting over 60 per cent of China's more than 133 million hectares of cultivated land, preventing them from being ravaged or damaged by moving sand dunes. In detail

300 Billion funds for Ecological Enviornment Preservation

China is going to spend 300 billion on ecological enviornment preservation, such as changing farmland into forest, bringing sand blown by the wind under control in Beijing and protecting natural forest, ect.

Ecological preservation is the key project funded by national financial departments. It will push our ecological preservation significantly forward as more funds are provided.

In accordance with the natural forest protection scheme approved by the State Council, the total value of investment will reach 96.2 billion from 2000 to 2010. According to the project of bringing sand under control in Beijing areas co-launched by the State Planning Commission and the Ministry of Finance, the central government will invest 55.62 billion within the coming ten years. Moreover, the central government has funded 7.45 billion ever since the scheme of changing land into forest was conducted in 2000. Sources from the State Forestry Bureau say the total amount of funds on this scheme is going to exceed 100 billion in ten years, with the total value of the three schemes adding up to 300 billion.

Questions?Comments? Click here

Afforestation in North China Helps Harness Desertification and Soil Erosion

China Outlines Six Key Ecological Projects

>> Full Coverage