South China’s Guangdong province has launched various tree-planting programs to mark the 43rd National Tree Planting Day. According to the province’s afforestation committee, a total of 60 million trees have been planted so far this year.

Residents of Guangdong province plant a tree. (Photo courtesy of the Forestry Administration of Guangdong Province)

Some 20 million people have taken part in tree-planting activities in Guangdong, the committee said, predicting that the number will reach 40 million throughout the year.

This year, virtual tree planting has become a new way of contributing to these efforts. In Foshan, Shaoguan, Maoming and Yangjiang, all in Guangdong, people are joining an online tree-planting campaign in which they plant a virtual tree on an app via their phones. When the tree grows to a certain height, the app company will plant a real tree on behalf of the users.

Also, a tree-planting activity, the third of its kind in the province, will be held by the Forestry Administration of Guangdong Province and the tech giant Tencent. Guangdong has cultivated more than 10 million saplings for the activity before the arrival of spring.

Volunteers plant trees. (Photo courtesy of the Forestry Administration of Guangdong Province)

Between 2016 and 2020, Guangdong advanced key ecological projects, including increasing forest carbon sinks, building forest belts, and improving the ecological environment in rural areas.

During the same period, some 652 million trees have been planted, over 19.12 million mu (about 1.27 million hectares) of land has been afforested, and 9,104 villages have become greener and more beautiful. By the end of 2020, Guangdong’s forest stock volume had reached 584 million cubic meters.