ISTANBUL - UN officials on Monday praised China's unique way of managing forests and encouraged it to export its pilot programs to other countries.

At a Chinese event on the sidelines of the UN Forum on Forests in Istanbul, Jan McAlpine, director of the forum secretariat, expressed her appreciation for China's efforts in practicing sustainable forest management.

"During my recent trip to China, I am very impressed by how China has set up strategical management of the forests," she said. "China also made huge efforts to incorporate the substantial, advancing pilot projects."

Sun Zhagen, deputy chief of the Chinese forestry administration, said China has launched many programs to preserve and expand forests in its sustainability drive.

Particularly, he noted China's unique way of managing forests where farmers, rewarded by their own works in the forest, are greatly encouraged to join nationwide efforts to plant more trees on mountains.

McAlpine urged China to export its "innovative pilot programs" to the rest of the world.

Eva Muller, an official at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, also called on China to export its forest programs to other countries.

According to Sun, China's forest area has increased from 1.34 million square km to 1.95 million square km and forest coverage increased from 13.92 percent to 20.36 percent in the past 10 years. By 2011, China's forestry investment had reached $42.4 billion.