China loses one-tenth of forest resources to snow havoc

Beijing (ANTARA News) - A total of 17.3 million hectares of forests, about one-tenth of China`s forest resources, have been damaged by the unprecedented snow wreckage in at least five decades, with forests, bamboo and seedlings in some parts of the country seriously destroyed.
In its latest report released on Saturday, the State Forestry Administration (SFA) confirmed the total losses of forest in 18 provinces in southern China, saying that in the worst-hit region, nearly 90 percent of forests had been ruined.
The administration didn`t give any figure for the value of the losses. Previous SFA report showed that by Jan. 31, disastrous winter weather had levied a toll of 16.2 billion yuan (about 2.5 billion U.S. dollars) in China`s forestry sector.
Cao Qingyao, a SFA spokesman, warned earlier this month that trees killed by winter frost in the southern regions could lead to fire disasters when the weather gets warmer.
Dead trees and broken branches would significantly increase the amount of inflammable materials in the forests, Xinhua reported.(*) END

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