Priority has been given to protecting and improving the ecological environment in the implementation of China's strategy of developing its vast western hinterland, officials from the central government and western regions said in Beijing on November 12.

China launched this year a massive campaign in 25 of its provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities to return farmland to forest land, said Li Zibin, deputy director of the Office of State Council Leading Group for the Development of Western Regions, at a press conference hosted by the media center for the ongoing 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

"By the end of September this year, a total of 44.18 million mu (2.95 million hectares) of farmland had been converted to forest land and 44.03 million mu (2.94 million hectare) of wasteland and barren mountain slopes had been planted with trees," said Li.

In the past three years, China has also spent some 2 billion yuan (US$241 million) on the protection and restoration of natural grassland, said Li, adding that the country will also kick off a project to restore the vigor of one billion mu of degraded grassland in five years by reducing or stopping grazing on such grassland.

Abdul'ahat Abdulrixit, chairman of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Regional Government, also briefed the press on how his region has handled the relationship between local economic development and environmental protection.

"Situated in the deep hinterland of Eurasia, Xinjiang has a quite fragile ecological environment featuring mainly arid deserts or half-arid oases," said the chairman. "Therefore, we have laid great emphasis on eco-environment protection and improvement in the process of regional development."

The region has invested 10.7 billion yuan (US$1.29 billion) in pollution control and a comprehensive treatment of the Tarim River, China's longest inland river, and imposed a total ban on logging of virgin forests or any destruction of vegetation in the deserts, he added.

"We are also making every effort to control desertification and expand the area of forests and grassland through the reforestation of farmland," he said.

Top officials from Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality and Tibet Autonomous Region and from northwest China's Shaanxi Province also attended the press conference and answered questions.