China has embarked upon a giant reforestation programme to halt soil erosion and desertification brought on by years of intensive logging.
Six projects in the north and west of the country aim to protect natural forests and plant more than 14 million ha of trees on cultivated land and 17 million ha on unused land before the end of the decade.
One planting project in Beijing-Tianjin will cover 460,000km2, an area bigger than Sweden.
China aims to reverse the trend which has seen 60% of wood cut from natural forests and just 40% from commercial forests. It plans to increase the cut from commercial forests to 70% by 2015.
Timber imports, running at about 13-15% of China’s total supply, will continue.
