More than 1 million local residents in Shanghai will be mobilized to participate in the "Winter Tree-Planting Day," which falls on December 1, to plant nearly 200 hectares of greenery along the city's Outer Ring Road, and Shanghai Municipal Greening Committee yesterday called on people to sign up for the event.

It added that the land for tree planting has already been designated and the deadline for registration is the end of next month. Each participant, who can select where he or she will plant the sapling, needs to pay between 30 yuan (US$3.6) to 50 yuan to cover the cost of the seedling and its future care, committee officials revealed.

Last year, Shanghai became the first city in China to host a "Winter Tree-Planting Day" in a year - other than the traditional "Spring Tree-Planting Day" that was held on March 12.

"The option of another day is to encourage more ecological volunteers among Shanghainese since the Spring Tree-Planting Day is an official program rather than volunteer activity," said Juan Qunfei, director of the greening committee.

He added that a review of the public greening campaign over the past several years revealed a marked rise in locals' desire to take part in efforts "to add more green color to Shanghai."

(eastday.com October 12, 2002)