LHASA, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region newly hired 309,000 farmers and herders as forest rangers in 2018, in an effort to conserve the ecosystem while eradicating poverty.

According to the regional forestry and grassland management bureau, the new jobs helped local farmers and herders increase their income by more than 1 billion yuan (149.3 million U. S. dollars).

For Benba Cering, a villager-turned forest ranger in the city of Nyingchi, his daily routine is to put on his yellow vest, sporting a red armband and carrying an extinguisher, and to set out every day after breakfast to patrol the forests in the mountains with two other co-workers.

"It's great to be able to both protect the forests and gain some subsidies," he said.

The region planted 74,666 hectares of trees in 2018, at the investment of 300 million yuan.

With an average altitude of more than 4,000 meters, Tibet is called "the roof of the world." It boasts large areas of natural forests.