Despite China's strong efforts to control desertification, deserts in the western regions are still expanding, a forestry official said on Monday.

"Much of the farmland in Qinghai and Gansu provinces and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region is turning sandy," said Wu Zhongze, an official with the State Forestry Administration.

He made the remarks at a press launch of the Global Deserts Outlook report by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).

Apart from climatic factors, Wu blamed the advance of deserts in the regions on rampant logging, over-grazing of grassland, excessive farming and reckless use of water resources.

As one of the countries in the world that suffers from the most serious desertification problems, China has 2.64 million sq km of land eaten up by desertification, which accounts for 27.46 percent of its land territory.

Desertification causes direct economic losses of more than 50 billion yuan (US$6.25 billion) a year, and affects the lives of about 400 million people, the official said.

"More than 500,000 sq km of desert areas are "controllable, but still lie untouched," Wu said.

The theme selected for this year's World Environment Day, which fell on Monday, is Deserts and Desertification, and the slogan is Don't Desert the Dry Land.

"This reminds us of the importance of protecting the dry land and controlling the expansion of deserts," he said.

To improve the livelihood of the people, the Chinese government will step up its efforts to control desertification, he said, citing measures including more funding and financial compensation for grassland protection and imposing strict bans on logging, grazing and farming in sandy areas.

China will continue to pursue the policy of reforesting farmland in areas most affected by desertification, he said.

Shao Xuemin, representative of UNEP's Beijing Office, said at the launch ceremony that UNEP will continue to support China's efforts to control desertification and that it has kicked off a cooperative project with the country on dry land degradation assessment.

Global Deserts Outlook is the first thematic report in UNEP's Global Environment Outlook series. The report, prepared by experts from across the globe, traces the history and biology of the deserts and assesses likely future changes in desert regions.

(Xinhua News Agency June 6, 2006)