Northeast China Benefits From Desert-ControlThe decades long fight toward restoring the desert-plagued Liaoning Province in northeast China to the tree-filled forest it once was has paid off.Currently, the province has seen a total economic return of more than 6.1 billion yuan (735 million US dollars) for its control efforts over the desert, a local official said. The desert area in Liaoning is now 2.42 million ha, or one-sixth of the province's total area. Local people began to plant trees in desert areas in the early 1950s, and planted 160,000 ha of trees in sand areas. The province's forest coverage rate has risen from 2.8 percent in 1950s to present 23.1 percent. Afforestation not only improves the ecological environment, but also provides large amounts of timber. Statistics show that over the past 50 years the province has turned out 650,000 cubic meters of timber in desert areas, valuing 163 million yuan (19.6 million US dollars). Besides, trees planted has helped protect 1.7 million ha of farmland and 110,000 ha of pasture, increasing an accumulative grain output of 7.6 billion kilograms and 253 million yuan (30.5 million US dollars) worth of animal husbandry. |
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