ULAN BATOR, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia will boost efforts to protect forests from harmful insects, the country's environment minister said Wednesday.
The government will spend 2 billion Mongolian Tugriks (about 638,500 U.S. dollars) to control pest outbreaks or eradicate insect pests, Mongolian Minister of Environment and Tourism Bat-Ulzii Bat-Erdene told a press conference.
It is estimated that insect pests have infected more than 732,700 hectares of forest in Mongolia, said the minister.
The fight against forest pests is part of the country's tree-planting campaign, which was launched last year and aims to plant at least a billion trees by 2030 to combat desertification.
According to the ministry, only 7.9 percent of Mongolia's total land area is covered by forests. ■