China's forests holds great potential as bio-energy resources

State Forestry Administration (SFA) Chief Engineer Wu Jian said that China holds great potential to develop forestry bio-energy resources because of its rich land resources. According to Wu, China has some 44.04 million hectares of mountains and land that remain uncultivated, while about 100 million hectares of marginal land, such as saline-alkali soil, sands, mines, and oilfield restored lands could be used to plant trees, with potential to produce bio-energy products. China has forestry coverage estimated at 195 million hectares, which could be translated into total biological materials of more than 18 billion tons. (August 18, 2010)