HOHHOT, May 30 (Xinhua) -- North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has raised its comprehensive vegetation coverage for grasslands to about 45 percent, the highest level since the 1990s, local authorities said.

Over the past half-decade, the region has afforested more than 3.2 million hectares of land, and planted about 2 million hectares of grass annually, raising its forest coverage to about 23 percent, according to the regional forestry and grassland bureau.

Inner Mongolia spans the vast northern territory of China and is an important ecological barrier in the country. In recent years, the region has afforested over 600,000 hectares of land annually. Enditem