An ongoing project on protecting natural forests will help expand forest coverage by 8.6 million hectares along the Yangtze and Yellow rivers and in other areas by 2010, helping to curb environmental deterioration.

Deputy director of the State Forestry Administration Lei Jiafu made these remarks in his report at a national conference on the project which was held in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in Northeast China's Jilin Province from Wednesday to Friday this week.

A pilot version of the project was implemented in 1998 and, the project itself was officially launched in 2000. It involves 734 counties in 17 provinces and municipalities ranging from Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

The project has banned logging of natural forests , and major afforestation efforts have been launched in the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze and the Yellow rivers.

Nearly 43 billion yuan (US$5.2 billion) has been invested in the project, said Lei.

Lei added that since the project was launched, the excessive exploitation of forest resources has been effectively curbed.

Measures such as banning logging in some forest areas have saved 320 million cubic metres of logs from being harvested and 94 million hectares of forest have been put under effective protection.

Efforts had also been made to plant trees where forests used to exist. Since 1998, 3 million hectares of forest have been replanted, with 4.7 million hectares of mountains and hills closed to human activities, including raising livestock.

Lei said these achievements resulted from investment by the central government.

But he said there are still problems holding back the sustainable development of forests.

For example, companies that manage forest lands are not competitive enough and have not set up modern enterprise systems.

Lei said the goal of sustainable development of forests will be achieved by 2010 on schedule.

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