The Chinese government has set an ambitious goal in its forestry restoration work, saying that it will improve its current forest coverage rate of 16.55 percent to more than 19 percent in the coming six years.

The goal was announced at the first anniversary of the implementation of the resolution on speeding up forestry development issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Partyof China (CPC) and the State Council.

Other goals include restoring national forest coverage up to 23percent by 2020 and to 26 percent by 2050.

Much of China's natural forests have been destroyed to make way for economic development. Over the past half century, China consumed 8.6 billion cubic meters of forestry resources, producing more than 5 billion cubic meters of timbers for construction. In the process, the country's forest coverage rate dropped to 62 percent of the world's average.

Facing the fact that environmental issues, such as floods, droughts and desertification, -- mainly caused by forest deterioration -- had bottlenecked the country's sustainable development, the Chinese government issued the resolution on speeding up reforestation last June, calling on a harmonious relationship between economic development and environmental protection.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao stressed at a forestry work meeting last year that strengthening ecological construction and realizingsustainable development were greatly important to the existence and development of the entire nation.

Over the past year, the Central Government has poured more than43.1 billion yuan (5.19 billion US dollars) into forestry restoration. This year the figure is expected to reach 44.2 billion yuan (5.32 billion US dollars). The government's cumulative investment in forestry restoration from 1949 to 1999 was just 24.3 billion yuan (2.93 billion US dollars).

Last year, China's afforestation area reached 10.9 million hectares or 1 percent of the country's territory area, adding morethan 45 million new job opportunities.

Since the natural forest protection project was launched in 1998, 320 million cubic meters of forestry resources have been saved and commercial logging has been banned in 13 provinces alongthe upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze River and the Yellow River.

China has increased its forest area by 13.3 million hectares inrecent years through afforestation and returning fragile land fromfarmland to forest projects.

"China's total forestry resources are still inadequate," said asenior official with the State Forestry Bureau, adding that the country's economic and social development in the coming 50 years is expected to require 18.5 billion cubic meters of timber consumption -- 1.6 times the country's current total forestry resources.

Coping with the contradiction between economic development and forestry restoration is clearly a long-term project for the Chinese government.

Source: Xinhua