China eyes 23% forest coverage by 2020

China aims to increase its forest coverage to more than 23 percent and lift the forested land area to 223 million hectares by end of 2020, according to Jia Zhibang, head of the State Forestry Administration. Citing a national afforestation outline for the 2011-2020 period, Jia made the remarks during an interview with Xinhua, saying that the public will be mobilized to plant 26 billion trees over the next 10 years. China's forest coverage had reached 20.36 percent, or 195 million hectares, at the end of 2008, according to official figures. Jia's remarks came as the 34th National Tree-Planting Day, a yearly campaign designed to promote tree-planting efforts among the public, was observed across China on Monday. The State Council, China's Cabinet, issued a document in 1982 that called on people from all walks to contribute to tree-planting in a regular and continuous manner. As of the end of last year, the public had planted a total of 61.4 billion trees.