China: 78 billion trees planted in national campaign
China’s forest coverage rate has increased from 12% in the early 1980s to 23.04% at present.
The voluntary tree-planting campaign China launched 40 years ago has seen 78 billion trees planted, further enriching China’s forest resources. More than 17.5 billion people have registered in the campaign across the country.
"The nationwide voluntary tree planting has effectively enriched China's forest resources,” Zhang Wei, a senior official of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, said.
China’s forest coverage rate has increased from 12% in the early 1980s to 23.04% at present, whereas its forest stock volume has increased from 9.028 billion cubic meters to 17.56 billion cubic meters.
“The campaign has made China the country with the largest increase in forest resources and the largest area of planted forests," Zhang said.
What’s next?
On what to do next, the campaign’s administration said it will further improve relevant laws and regulations and encourage people to contribute more to the campaign, thus increasing participation.
The first step in stage two is that the Chinese government accelerate the legislation process for the campaign, providing more legal guidance.
"Second, we will build more comprehensive service platforms for voluntary tree planting to provide more approaches for residents to fulfill their obligations," said Zhang.
In the course of facilitating and encouraging participation in the campaign, the Chinese government is also set to speed up the construction of various types of voluntary tree planting bases at all levels. Moreover, the government will promote new modes like "cloud tree planting", through which people can accumulate "green energy" online with low-carbon behaviors.
In addition, China will further popularize ecological knowledge and promote ecological civilization to raise public awareness of forest conservation.