This means the Chinese taxpayer will have to contribute toward the ecological benefits generated by forests, even though these are intangible and unaccountable, according to officials with the Ministry of Finance and the State Forestry Administration (SFA).

　　The first subsidy, one billion yuan (120 million U.S. dollars),will be divided among about one third of the provinces and autonomous regions this year, covering 13.3 million hectares of forests.

　　People recognize forest's commercial advantages, such as timberand other products, but often ignore its function in maintaining ahealthy environment, said Zhou Shengxian, director of the SFA.

　　This ignorance led to less attention being paid to afforestation and protection work, he added.

　　Unlike the commercial forest, the forest maintained for the purpose of water conservation, prevention of soil erosion, and dune-fixing should be preserved and the afforestation work should get government subsidies, according to China's forestry law.

　　The SFA has designated 57.3 million hectares of forests, or 22 percent of the country's total, to be ecological forests. Most arelocated in the valleys in the upper reaches of major rivers and around big reservoirs.

　　Vice minister of finance Zhang Youcai said use of money from public finance budgets in projects of public benefit and non-profit projects will be increased along with the reform of budget-expending system.

　　"The government should put more money into the protection and preservation of forest resources because maintaining a good ecological environment is critical to the long-term interest of the Chinese people," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency November 21, 2001)