Wild Forest Protection Drive Launched in West China ProvinceAs a wild forest protection program was officially initiated recently in Shaanxi Province, northwest China, large numbers of local lumbermen will now engage in a new career as forest protectors.The decade-long program, with an investment of 5.8 billion yuan (700 million U.S. dollars), will give protection to some 7 million hectares of wild forests and lumbering activities on 4.59 million hectares of forest have been banned. The bold plan will also cut the annual timber output from 8.15 million cubic meters to 2.37 million cubic meters, which is thought to be sufficient for the use of local farmers. The commercial timber output will also be reduced from 1.08 million cubic meters to 160,000 cubic meters. Meanwhile, with the massive afforestation efforts, Shaanxi expects to have one million hectares of new forest by 2010, with the forest coverage rate rising from the current 30.92 percent to 33.9 percent. Shaanxi Province stopped logging wild forests in six localities in 1998. Over the past three years, the province has planted 14, 500 hectares of trees. |
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