Aerial photo taken on June 15, 2021 shows the view of the summer pasture on the Barlik Mountain in Yumin County, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Hu Huhu)
URUMQI, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has seen a robust ecological development from 2010 to 2019, with a net increase of over 113 million mu (7.53 million hectares) of ecologically functional land, according to the latest land and resource survey of Xinjiang.
By 2019, the region had registered over 183 million mu of forests, 780 million mu of grasslands, 22.87 million mu of wetlands, and 33.18 million mu of rivers and lakes, Liu Xingguang, an official with the regional department of natural resources, told a press briefing on Tuesday.
Noting that the pattern of ecological development in some areas of Xinjiang is not yet stable, Liu said strict ecological and environmental protection regulations should be followed and land use should be based on local conditions.
The survey, conducted between November 2017 and the end of 2019, covers the land-use status of 106 county-level units in Xinjiang. ■
