China's forestry authority plans to reclaim large areas of land over the next decade under a national desert-control plan.

"Land desertification is the most important ecological problem in China. It causes erosion to the available space for people's existence and development, provokes natural disasters like sandstorms, and endangers agricultural production by degrading the land," Zhang Yongli, deputy director of the State Forestry Administration, said at a news conference on Wednesday.

The national plan for preventing and controlling desertification was published by seven government departments, including the State Forestry Administration, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Ministry of Agriculture.