Northeast Province Set to Harness DesertIn the next decade Northeast China's Liaoning province is to curb the serious deterioration of Horqin desert, a problem that plagues the region.The project will focus on planting a shelter belt as large as 650,000 hectares to halt the progress of deserts in northeast China's semi-arid areas. The 56,000 sq. km ) Horqin desert is located between Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and the province. Yu Wenguo, director with the office in charge of the project, said that the afforestation is a part of national drive to plant a massive forest belt in northern, northeastern and northwestern parts of China. The completion of the project will be crucial in terms of both environmental protection and economic construction, said Yu. The government will also accelerate the establishment of natural forest reserves in the northeast and Inner Mongolia in the north, reduce logging and impose a strict limit on the output of the logging industry. China's current forest coverage rate is less than 14 percent, half the world's average; and its annual timber consumption is 150 million cubic meters, exceeding the world total annual timber trade volume. |
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