The forest coverage in the Yangtze River Valley has reached 30.5 percent, or 55.0 million hectares, according to Zhu Lieke, vice director of the State Forestry Administration, at the Yangtze River Forum held in Wuhan, Hubei Province, on April 17.

More than 3 million hectares of forest have been planted annually during the past several years and the total standing timber volume in the valley has reached 3.2 billion cubic meters, lowering land erosion 42 percent.

Central-government-sponsored programs in reforestation, natural forest and wildlife protection and the establishment of nature reserves have been carried out in the valley since the 1980s.

Zhu said that at the same time, a multilevel forest protection system had been put in place to integrate various afforestation efforts. This includes tree planting in villages and townships, along roadsides and inside arable land.

The Green-for-Grain Project, for which more than 97 million farmers have received subsidies, has helped restore 4.3 million hectares of forest. 

The valley now holds more than 800 nature reserves covering 2.2 million hectares, or 12 percent of the valley's total area.

The central government has invested more than 10 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) to improve the protection of forests on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

(Xinhua News Agency April 18, 2005)