China鈥檚 campaign against illegal logging nets US$250m in fines
Print Edition
China channeled more energy into the protection of forests and grassland last year, an official report showed.
The National Forestry and Grassland Administration cracked down on violations such as illegal logging in 2018 as a special campaign code-named 鈥淗urricane No. 1鈥 was launched and fines totaling 1.68 billion yuan (US$250 million) were imposed in 183,000 forests-related cases.
About 207,000 cubic meters of timber and 175,000 wild animals were confiscated in those cases, and 15,000 hectares of forests and 863.4 hectares of national reserves were recovered.
The NFGA also investigated damage of 7,646.6 hectares of grassland last year.
The hard action came as the country attached greater significance to environmental protection. China planted 7.07 million hectares of new forest in 2018 and plans to increase forest coverage by 6.73 million hectares this year.
In 2018, China launched the first public forest monitoring, the ninth national check of forest resources, and the first carbon sink calculation to improve the management of forests and grassland resources.
China established 17 new national forest parks last year, bringing the total number to 897, according to NFGA.
The national forest parks covered a total area of 12.87 million hectares at the end of last year. China also had 474 national-level nature reserves.
With increased policy support and financial investment, China has achieved remarkable results in wetland protection. Over 70,000 hectares of wetland were restored last year, bringing the country鈥檚 wetland protection rate to 52.2 percent.
Haikou, Harbin, Changde, Changshu, Dongying and Yinchuan were named in the world鈥檚 first list of international wetland cities in October last year.
China also intensified its efforts to crack down on ivory trade, the slaughter of wild animals and other criminal offenses.
Meanwhile, forests have become popular travel destinations in China, with gross output of the industry hitting 1.5 trillion yuan in 2018, official data showed.
In contrast, China鈥檚 forest tourism industry yielded an output of 1.15 trillion yuan in 2017. The number of forest trips rose to 1.6 billion last year, a new bulletin issued by the national afforestation authority showed.
Last year, China unveiled 10 new travel routes in forests, the first batch of such routes.
NFGA has recently released a guideline promoting the forestry industry, vowing to expand forest tourism while conserving natural resources.
In 2018, trips to forests grew by 15 percent year on year to account for nearly 30 percent of domestic travel in China.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 娌狪CP璇侊細娌狪CP澶05050403鍙-1
- |
- 浜掕仈缃戞柊闂讳俊鎭湇鍔¤鍙瘉锛31120180004
- |
- 缃戠粶瑙嗗惉璁稿彲璇侊細0909346
- |
- 骞挎挱鐢佃鑺傜洰鍒朵綔璁稿彲璇侊細娌瓧绗354鍙
- |
- 澧炲肩數淇′笟鍔＄粡钀ヨ鍙瘉锛氭勃B2-20120012
Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
