China's forestry developments in 2011
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E-mail Xinhua, March 12, 2012
China's National Afforestation Committee released a bulletin showcasing developments in the forestry sector in 2011 on Monday, the country's 34th Tree Planting Day.
Following are some basic facts about the developments in China's forestry sector:
Tree planting: A total of 614 million volunteers participated in tree-planting activities in 2011, with 2.51 billion trees planted throughout the year.
By the end of 2011, volunteers nationwide had planted 61.4 billion trees since the government first encouraged participation in tree-planting activities in 1981.
Forestation: China's forestry engineering efforts created 6.14 million hectares of forestry areas in 2011.
As of the end of 2011, China's projects to return croplands to forested lands fostered 27 million hectares of green land.
Urban vegetation: Vegetation coverage in urban areas added 118,000 hectares from 2010 to 1.61 million hectares, bringing the coverage rate to 38.62 percent.
The average vegetation for each urban resident last year increased 0.52 square meter from a year earlier to 11.18 square meters.
Altogether 183 cities were named as "National Garden Cities," while 31 cities were listed as "National Forestry Cities."
Forestry management: China extended care and tending to eight million hectares of forest in 2011.
Grassland fostering: The Chinese government introduced a subsidy and reward mechanism in 2011 to earmark special funds for ecological protection in pasturing areas.
To date, China has contracted 243 million hectares of grasslands, accounting for 73 percent of the country's total exploitable grasslands.
Meanwhile, over 10.47 million hectares of grasslands were restored or improved in 2011.
Desertification control: China's desertification control efforts rehabilitated more than 1.53 million hectares of desert land last year.
Nature reserves: China added 91 natural preservation areas in 2011, and the State Council, China's Cabinet, approved 14 of them as "National Nature Reserves."
As of the end of 2011, China had 2,126 forestry nature reserves with a total area of 1.23 million square kilometers.
Wetland projects: The 42 wetland protection projects China launched in 2011 helped bring 330,000 hectares of wetlands under protection and restored 23,000 hectares of wetlands.
By the end of 2011, China had 213 national wetland parks.
Forest coverage: China aims to bring the forest coverage to 23 percent, or 223 million hectares, by 2020, according to the sector's plan for the 2011-2020 period.
China's forest coverage reached 20.36 percent, or about 195 million hectares, by the end of 2008, according to the latest survey on China's forestry resources. The survey was conducted by the State Forestry Administration between 2004 and 2008, and involved more than 20,000 scientists and forestry workers.
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