Insects Plague Forests in Northeast ChinaThe hot, dry weather this summer has led to an outbreak of insect plague in northeast China's Liaoning Province, according to local officials.About 176,700 hectares of forests are affected by insect pests, with 40,000 hectares in a serious situation, according to the latest survey by the provincial forest insect pest prevention station. Yuan Ge, an official in charge at the prevention station, said, however, the plague is not as widespread as last year. Yuan and his colleagues attributed the insect plague to this year's continuous high temperature and drought. The heavy snow last winter also helped most pests survive the cold winter, they added. Local government and forestry departments in Liaoning are taking measures to fight the insect pests. With a forest coverage rate of about 30 percent, Liaoning has about 4.5 million hectares of forests. |
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