Greening efforts push China's forest coverage rate to over 23 pct

China's forest coverage rate rose sharply from a mere 8.6 percent in 1949 to 23.04 percent by the end of 2020, a sharp increase of 1.6 times, according to the latest statistics.

Aerial photo taken on June 27, 2021 shows the scenery in Saihanba National Forest Park in Chengde, north China's Hebei Province. (Xinhua/Yang Shiyao)

China was home to a forest area of just over 80 million hectares in 1949, with a forest coverage rate of only 8.6 percent. In stark contrast, however, its forest cover rate reached 23.04 percent by the end of 2020, with a forest area of 220 million hectares, thanks to more than 70 years of unremitting greening efforts.

"From 1949 to the early days of reform and opening up, China witnessed an average increase of about 1,000 square kilometers of forest area every year, while in the past 40 years of reform and opening up, an average of more than 2,500 square kilometers of forest area is expanded every year," explained Pan Jiahua, a member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).

A series of key forestry ecological projects, such as the northwest-north-northeast China networks of shelterbelts and the conversion of farmland to forests, played a vital role in making the country land greener. China's forestry area and growing stock both maintained steady growth for more than 30 years, while the total area of artificial forest in the country ranking first in the world.

According to the statistics from the 9th national forest inventory, the area of natural forest in China stood at 140 million hectares, and that of artificial forest exceeded 80 million hectares. Furthermore, about one quarter of the world's newly-added greening areas from 2000 to 2017 came from China, ranking first in the world.

"In the past, our greening efforts focused on expanding the forestry area, but now we pay more attention to improving forest quality and efficiency,” said Liu Dongsheng, deputy director of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration.

According to Liu, in recent years, China has not only accelerated its greening efforts, with more than 6.67 million hectares of afforestation area a year, but also implemented projects to accurately improve the quality of forestry and grassland.