A shelterbelt with multiple layers and various forests has been basically shaped after two decades of work in westernmost Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, a regional forestry official said in Urumqi, capital city of the region, Tuesday.

The comprehensive shelterbelt, comprising a farmland greenbelt, a large earth-holding windbreak and a desert plantation belt, said the official of the regional forestry bureau, covers 93 percent of the region's 3.3 million-plus hectares of cropland, and has ensured successive good harvests in recent years.

Xinjiang's oases have kept expanding in acreage thanks to the shelterbelt, added the official, and the forest-covered acreage of the autonomous region made up 2.1 percent of the region's total land space.

Besides the man-made shelterbelt, Xinjiang has invested in wildlife preservation and afforestation on over-exploited farmlands so as to make a rational use of abundant local natural resources, the official said.

(Xinhua News Agency January 7, 2004)