The State Forestry Administration said on July 10 that China will spend 212.9 billion yuan ($34.7 billion) by 2020 to fund forestry projects as part of efforts to improve the country's environment.

The money will be used to foster 21.67 million hectares of forestry and increase China's forest coverage rate by 4.1 percent by 2020, the administration said.

China created 6.01 million hectares of forested areas in 2012, and projects aimed at tackling sandstorm problems in Beijing and Tianjin helped foster 537,000 hectares of green land last year, according to China's National Afforestation Committee.

China's forest coverage had totaled 195 million hectares, or 20.36 percent of the country's total area, by the end of 2008.