Northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region plans to invest 6.7 billion yuan (807.2 million US dollars) to protect and add to its forests in the next decade.

This effort is part of a national program to protect the forests at the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River in order to enhance the area's ecological balance.

Ningxia's plan calls for adding 1.1 million hectares of trees and grass to the region during the next decade. When this is done, the region's desert land will be cut by half, and the loss of soil will be at least 60 percent less than now.

Improving the environment will aid Ningxia's effort to shake off poverty and develop its economy, according to local authorities.

China also has decided to pour more than 100 billion yuan (12 billion US dollars) into the improvement of environment and the protection of forests in more than 800 counties and cities at the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River over the next ten years, including all of Ningxia.