TAIYUAN — Shanxi, a province on the Loess Plateau in North China, saw its forest area reach 3.63 million hectares by the end of 2019, the best figure since the founding of the People's Republic of China.

The forest coverage rate rose to 23.18 percent from 18.03 percent in 2010, according to the latest annual forest resource survey results released by the province.

From 2016 to 2019, the province poured some 20 billion yuan (about $3 billion) in forestry and ecological construction and planted trees covering a total area of 1.27 million hectares.

Zhang Yunlong, head of the Shanxi Forestry and Grassland Bureau, has vowed to continue efforts to achieve the forest coverage rate target of 26 percent by 2025.

The Loess Plateau used to be plagued by chronic soil erosion in the last century, resulting in ecological imbalance. Tens of millions of metric tons of mud and sand washed into the Yellow River, making up most of the silt that gave the river its name.