By: Shilpa Sharma
CHINA will plant 36,000 square kilometres of new forest every year till 2025 to combat climate change and protect natural habitats, a senior forestry official said on Friday (20).
The move is a part of China’s environmental efforts to bring carbon emissions down to net zero by 2060.
Li Chunliang, vice-chairman of the State Forestry and Grasslands Commission, said large-scale “land greening” programmes would complete 54 million mu (36,000 sq km) of afforestation every year through 2025.
“By 2035, the quality and stability of national forest, grassland, wetland and desert ecosystems will have been comprehensively upgraded,” Li added.
China aims to raise its overall forest coverage rate to 24.1 per cent by the end of 2025 from 23.04 per cent at the end of last year, as per its forest and grassland five-year plan published this week.
The plan highlighted that the country’s forest and grass resources were inadequate, especially in drought-prone regions in the north and west.
Under the five-year plan, China will also expand its national park system, create corridors to alleviate habitat fragmentation, and crack down further on illegal wildlife trade.
Separately market research group comparethemarket.com said on Friday (20) that the city of Beijing alone would need to plant more than 15 million trees a year in order to offset annual emissions.
