China to spend $113 mn for environment

In an endeavour to improve the country's environment, the Chinese government has decided to spend over 700 million yuan (over $113 million) for funding the forestry projects, the finance ministry said Monday.

Some 198.06 million yuan will fund erosion control and other projects in 24 regions, including north China's Beijing Municipality, Hebei province and Inner Mongolia region, reported Xinhua citing the ministry.

The rest of the money will be used to fund projects in northeast China's Liaoning province, as well as southwest China's Chongqing Municipality and Guangxi Zhuang region to boost the local economies of those areas.

China's forest coverage totaled 195 million hectares, or 20.36 per cent of the country's total area, as of the end of 2008. The government aims to expand the coverage to 23 percent by 2020.