China goes green with campaign to plant trees
Print Edition
China鈥檚 forestry authority has initiated a national campaign to encourage Chinese to go out in spring to plant more trees and turn the country green.
A special banner has been placed on the front page of the website of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, displaying the slogan 鈥淲here to go in spring? Plant trees and make China green.鈥
On the 40th Arbor Day, which was yesterday, the administration and the National Greening Commission sent messages to mobile phone users, encouraging them to plant more trees.
A day earlier, the first commemorative stamp in honor of Arbor Day was released in Beijing to mark the 40th Arbor Day.
The stamp, with a face value of 1.2 yuan (18 US cents), bears the image of a pair of hands which resemble the branches of a tree. Above that tree, a beautiful scenery features green leaves, a stream of water, mountains, birds and houses.
Liu Dongsheng, deputy director of the administration, said Arbor Day has become an important occasion to arouse public awareness of green development.
According to a statement issued by the administration, China plans to add 6.73 million hectares of afforested areas in 2019 to further expand forest coverage.
The forest coverage rate of China has increased nearly 10 percentage points since the late 1970s, with the world鈥檚 largest area of planted forests and an 80 percent expansion of forest areas, said Zhang Jianlong, director of the administration.
In 2018 alone, China planted 7.07 million hectares of new forests and treated more than 6.66 million hectares of degraded grasslands, according to a communique on China鈥檚 afforestation conditions, which was released yesterday.
Participants from all walks of life took part in various voluntary tree planting activities last year, including ministers, generals, and leaders and cadres at all levels, the communique said.
Many government departments also took part in environmental efforts. In 2018, China鈥檚 transport sector spent 8.79 billion yuan on highway greening, afforesting 79,000km of highway, while housing and urban-rural development departments constructed green passages, with per capita urban green park areas reaching 14 square meters, it said.
Chinese people have also been keen to participate in a virtual tree-planting project in the mobile payment app Alipay. The project rewards low-carbon acts such as renting a bike or taking the bus with 鈥渆nergy鈥 to 鈥渨ater鈥 virtual trees, and the organizers will plant a real tree in deserts in China when a virtual tree grows up.
A study using data from NASA satellites confirmed China鈥檚 efforts on afforestation. Data shows that China and India are leading the increase in land greening and concludes that the 鈥渆ffect comes mostly from ambitious tree-planting programs in China and intensive agriculture in both countries.鈥
The NASA data shows the greening rate of Chinese cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Nanchang and Shenzhen saw an increase instead of a drop amid rapid urbanization.
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