China's state Forestry Administration is briefing the media on its resource inventory and protection efforts. The Director, Zhao Shucong, is to release the Eighth National Forest Resource Inventory Report. The report is issued every five years.
The Seventh National Forest Resource Inventory Report was released in 2009. It covers the period 2004 through 2008. It states that China's forested area covers 195 million hectares with the forest stocking volume at 13,721 million cubic meters. The forest coverage increased to 20.36 percent of the country’s total land area from 18.21 percent in 2003. Natural forest covers 119.7 million hectares, with the forest stocking volume at 11-thousand four hundred and two million cubic meters. Plantation forest covers 61.7 million hectares with forest stocking volume at one thousand nine hundred and sixty one million cubic meters.
China aims to increase its forest coverage to over 23 percent of the total land area by 2020, and to over 26 percent by 2050.
