China discovered and investigated 1.7 million cases of misconduct in its forestry sector and recovered economic losses totalling 7.29 billion yuan (1.12 billion U.S. dollars) during its 11th Five-Year period (2006-2010), an official with the State Forestry Administration (SFA) said on Tuesday.

China has made great progress in supervising and managing its forestry resources over the past five years, Jia Zhibang, head of the SFA, said at a work conference on the management of forestry resources.

"Preserving and developing forestry resources has become an important task in safeguarding our ecosystem," Jia said.

During the 2006-2010 period, China introduced a mechanism to assess the ecological function and value of its forestry industry, he said.

China's carbon reserves in the forestry weigh in at 7.81 billion tons, and revenues generated from its eco-service functions reach 10.01 trillion yuan annually, according to Jia.

China invested 297.9 billion yuan in its forestry sector during the 11th Five-Year period (2006-2010). This investment was mostly directed toward ecological construction and forestry sector reforms, according to the SFA.