According to statistics from the State Forestry Administration, over 300 species of terrestrial vertebrate animals and some 410 species of wild plants are at risk, the Xinhua news agency said.

By 2010, China will have a total of 3,000 to 4,000 plants on the brink of being wiped out, the report cited experts as warning.

Because of the structure of the food chain, if one kind of plant disappears, there will be 10 to 30 types of organisms which depend on the plant that could die, the China Daily said.

Insufficient forest resources, destruction of the natural habitat of wild species, and illicit poaching are to blame, the agency quoted sources from the State Forestry Administration as saying.

China has one of the largest numbers of animals and plants in the world.

Some 156 species of China's endangered animals and plants are among the world's 640 endangered species listed in the United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), accounting for 24 percent of the total at risk.

Species in China that have disappeared or are being exterminated now include more than 20 rare animals, such as the bronco and the Xinjiang tiger, the China Daily said, and many others are in imminent danger.

To save endangered species and improve the natural environment for them to grow, China has made efforts in recent years to plant trees and restore forests.

It has so far turned a total of some 13.4 million hectares (33.1 million acres) of hillside farmland into forest land, according to the latest survey from the State Forestry Administration.

In the past five years, the government has allocated 23.6 billion yuanbillion dollars) to the project, of which 16.8 billion yuan was used to compensate farmers.

The project of turning hillside farmland into forest began in 1999 to facilitate the country's reforestation campaign.

The government offered funds to plant saplings and compensation for farmers who contributed farmland to the project.

TERRA.WIRE