Forest Watch, a video monitoring system for forests. [Photo/sxaf.ac.cn]

Shanxi Academy of Forestry Sciences introduced Forest Watch, a world-leading video monitoring system, in order to help monitor forest fires in the province, on Feb 23.

The system has various functions, such as automatic alarms and image enhancement, and can identify smoke and fire with a high degree of accuracy.

It will effectively help prevent potential forest fires and help control forest fires in Shanxi, which has forest coverage of 3.21 million hectares, 20.5 percent of the province's area.

Currently, Forest Watch covers an area of some 1,333 hectares in the woodlands of Shiqianfeng, the highest peak of the West Mountains in Taiyuan, capital city of Shanxi province.