North China Fights Against Forest DestructionNorth China's Hebei Province has investigated 1,113 cases involving the destruction of natural forests during a recent month-long action against such environmental crimes.Local forestry police fined 1,351 people involved and arrested 30 others, retrieving over 1.22 million yuan (about 146,000 U.S. dollars) in direct economic loss. Also, local offices in charge of natural forest protection closed down local fiber processing factories and companies dealing in illegal fiber trade. Hebei, with a forest cover rate of 19.48 percent, has been suffering from forest destruction and serious illegal fiber business. China still has a long way to go in protecting its forests to solve such problems as excess logging carried out to meet rising timber demands. |
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