IN BRIEF (Page 7)

Heilongjiang

Logging ban sees forest grow

Northeast China's Greater Hinggan Mountain forest zone, the country's largest, has seen an increases in its stock of trees thanks to better protection and a ban on commercial logging. The area's total volume of timber, or growing stock, reached 571 million cubic meters last year - up 8 percent on 2010. Around 6.84 million hectares of the region is forested, the Greater Hinggan Mountain prefecture resources administration said on Monday. Forest coverage stood at 81.86 percent last year, up 0.91 percent over 2010, according to the administration. The central government plans to ban all commercial logging in natural forests by 2017.