CRI听力：State Forestry Administration: China Continues to Push Forward Forestry Ecological Constructio

Anchor:
China's State Forestry Administration has vowed to continue its forestry ecological construction, with combating desertification at the top of the agenda.

Spokesman Cao Qingyao made the pledge while noting China's astonishing ecological achievements in the past years. Xu Weiyi has the details.

Reporter:
Statistics from the State Forestry Administration show that desertification affects nearly 400 million people in China.

In light of this situation, Cao Qingyao says China is still faced with huge tasks in controlling desertification.

"The total area suffering from desertification is more than 2.6 million square kilometers, comprising nearly 30 percent of China's territory. In a word, fighting against desertification is still an urgent and arduous task. "

The spokesman says the central government's stimulus package allocates one billion yuan, or 150 million US dollars, for the conservation of natural forests.

In 2000, China launched a project to plant trees and grass to slow desertification in five regions in northern China, including Beijing.

Cao Qingyao says that the efforts have achieved initial progress.

In Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region alone, 1.6 million hectares have so far been reclaimed. Forested land now covers 20 million hectares.

Li Shuping, vice chief of the Inner Mongolia Forestry Administration, further explains the benefits of the ecological project.(www.hXen.com)

"Through returning farmland to forests, restoring grassland from over-grazing and migration, animal husbandry in sandy areas has transformed from nomadic to static breeding. This, in turn, has benefited local herdsmen."

China has also set up a fund to encourage forestry construction and conservation. As of last year, 17 billion yuan, or about two and a half billion US dollars, from the fund has benefited more than 40 million hectares of forests reserved for public purposes.