A mangrove belt will be built along 9,600 hectares of beaches on Hainan Island, China's southernmost province, over the next five to 10 years, according to the provincial forestry administration.

The provincial government will close some beaches for tree planting to rebuild a "green barrier" along the coastline.

During the past few years, Hainan has spent 31.9 million yuan (US$3.9 million) on planting 4.25 million hectares of forests, many of which sit along the coastal shelter belts.

The project is just one example of China's attempts to restore mangroves and shrubs that live in tropical tidal zones after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

In south China's Guangdong Province, the local government is also making efforts to restore and expand mangrove forests.

The province planted 2,613 hectares of mangrove trees in 2004 and opened nine wetland preserves, including two at the state level, covering 8,256 hectares.

China will have 95,100 hectares of mangrove forests by 2010, said Zhou Shengxian, director of the State Forestry Bureau, who added that to achieve this goal, the government will invest 1.3 billion yuan.

This is all done to make up for past loss, Zhou said.

China's mangrove forests were seriously felled and ruined during the past decades.

The SFA says that half a century ago China had more than 60,000 hectares of mangrove forests, but the campaign of reclaiming farmland from the sea, a large-scale aquatic products breeding project, and some other construction projects shrunk the forests to a mere 20,000 hectares.

The mangrove forests, as well as coral reefs and sand dunes, are a buffer against tsunamis and storm surges, said Zhou.

Thanks to the mangrove forests, more than 400 families stayed safe in four villages in Tamil Nadu, one of the most severely damaged places in southern India during the 2004 tsunami, the official said.

(Xinhua News Agency September 19, 2005)