Southwest China's Yunnan Province saw its forest coverage reach 23.9 million hectares, increasing from 55.7 percent in 2015 to 62.4 percent in 2020, thanks to afforestation and ecological restoration efforts, local authorities said Tuesday.

The increase in vegetation can be attributed to a spate of government-led ecological projects such as turning farmland back to forests and grasslands and restoring desertified land, according to Wang Weibin, deputy director of the Yunnan provincial forestry and grassland bureau.

The past five years also saw Yunnan's forest stock volume expand from 1.77 billion cubic meters to 2.02 billion cubic meters. About 2.5 million hectares of trees were planted over the period.

The province's forest stock volume and forest area both rank second among China's provincial-level regions.