China now has the largest areas of man-made forest in the world, according to the country’s State Forestry Administration (SFA).
Planting programmes have given China 46.7 million ha of man-made forests, making up one-third of the world total. Forest cover has risen from 8.6% in the early 1950s to 16.55% today, with a total of 159 million ha.
Annual timber production from the commercial forests is 67 million tons. Meanwhile, the country is aiming to achieve sustainable forestry development in the near future with six major projects already formulated by the SFA to conserve existing wild forests, return farmland to forests, plant shelter-belt forests, control desertification and conserve wildlife.
