China must take stronger measures to protect its environment as a land stretch of 23 million mu (1.5 million hectares) in northeast China is reported to have turned into desert, said a forestry official Thursday.

Director Zhou Shengxian of the State Forestry Administration told a seminar on forestry here that the current desertification speed is about 300,000 mu a year in northeast China's Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning provinces and part of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

The soil erosion area has expanded to 270 million mu in the region, and in Dahinggan Mountains, the erosion area grew up 59 percent in 2001 from 1986, he said.

As an important wood resource base, northeast China now faces such serious ecological problems that the forestry resource is drying up, he said, noting 70 percent of annual timber output comes from the younger forest.

The current tree fall is far beyond the forest growth in the area, he said, calling for efforts to restructure the local forestry industry.

Close

Today's Top News		Top National News
+IPO approval procedure reform ( 2003-11-20) +US textile decree to cloud trade relations ( 2003-11-20) +US urged to be straight on one China ( 2003-11-20) +Lawsuit fires up in case of vanishing virtual weapons ( 2003-11-20) +Restructuring cash welcome ( 2003-11-20)		+Northeast China faces serious environmental problem ( 2003-11-20) +China, US consultation beneficial, constructive ( 2003-11-20) +More than half big city residents buy insurance ( 2003-11-20) +Prison supermarket appears in S. China province ( 2003-11-20) +From moral model to economic pioneer: village heads' new role ( 2003-11-20)