China spent almost $50 billion on forest protection

Beijing. January 29. Silkroadnews -  China has spent almost $50 billion on forest protection, Xinhua news agency reported.
“China has spent more than 300 billion yuan (about 47.3 billion U.S. dollars) in 20 years in protecting natural forests, according to sources with State Forestry Administration,” the publication reads.
As a key measure initiated by the State Council after severe flooding in 1998, a project to protect forests in 16 provinces, including Heilongjiang, Jilin, Hebei, Yunnan, Hunan and Liaoning, was started in the valleys of the Yangtze River and the Songhua River.
The official in charge of the forests protection says, about 129.6 million hectares of natural forest have been set under protection.
Logging was completely banned across these regions. State-owned forestry bureaus in these areas receive an annual subsidy of 15 million yuan.
China, the fifth largest forest area in the world, aims to grow its forest cover by more than 23% by 2020 to combat climate change and soil erosion. As of the end of 2016, the forest coverage made 21.7%.