Forest farm plants seeds of success

China plans to use its experience in green projects like Saihanba- the nation's largest man-made forest - to build similar forest farms in ecologically fragile regions to fight desertification, the National Development and Reform Commission said.

The Saihanba Forest Farm, 150 kilometers from Beijing in Hebei province, forms a natural barrier between the capital and the sandstorms that often blow in from the north. Since foresters began replanting trees, forest coverage in the area has soared from 12 percent in 1962 to 80 percent in 2016.

"The successful practices adopted in Saihanba have provided experience for remote and sparsely populated regions to increase green coverage," He Lifeng, director of the commission, said on Monday at a seminar in Beijing that focused on learning from the Saihanba experience.