China is best known for cheap merchandise, quick commerce, and horrible air pollution, and finally, the massive Asian country has recently decided that it’s time to go green as well. In fact, Chinese officials recently launched a new greening campaign that claims it was plant forests the size of Belgium over the next five years.
In addition, they will also expand the country’s national park and forest system, which will include creating new green corridors in order to “reconnect” China’s fragmented population of wildlife, while also putting stronger laws against illegal wildlife trafficking and the use of wildlife products into place.
Vice-chairman of the State Forestry and Grasslands Commission in China, Li Chunliang, recently announced during a press briefing the country’s 5-year plan, also explaining that “By 2035, the quality and stability of national forest, grassland, wetland and desert ecosystems will have been comprehensively upgraded.”
What this means is that at least 14,000-square miles, which is equivalent to 35,000-square kilometers, of brand new forest will be put up every year for at least five years, concentrating mostly on the drought-prone areas of China’s North and West regions.
They have also chosen to detail their strategy, saying that it will be based mostly around “natural reforestation,” which means it will plant trees that are more inclined to survival in the areas they plant them, unlike the mistakes made during the “Green Great Wall” campaign which focused more on stopping desertification near the Gobi Desert. This failed mostly due to monocrop planting, where the billions of trees that were planted ended up dying due to beetle infestations or moisture issues.
Incredibly, these five reforestation plans that are set to be as big as Belgium will manage to only increase the forest coverage in China by less than 2%. But considering countries paradoxical existence – which includes decades of traditions such as folk medicine, Buddhism, and what many would consider a deep reverence for their national animals, which basically opposes the countries expeditious economic growth that takes down anything and everything in its path, the country seems to finally be going in the right direction this time.
Not only will planting these forests in the north mean that the Siberian tiger will be given a larger habitat for survival, those planted more in the west will also give a higher chance of survival to the Gobi bear, which is considered the most endangered species of bear on the planet.
Despite the market research group, comparethemarket.com, explaining that the city of Beijing alone would have to plant over 15 million trees a year to counteract the city’s annual emissions, their plan for these new forests is one step in the right direction.
China isn’t the only one that needs to help neutralize their negative gas emissions on the earth either. Both Hong Kong and Singapore would need to plant over 9 million trees a year to combat theirs, while London would require over 4 million trees if it wants to help itself, as was explained in the same report.
‘Regardless, any type of planting – especially one as big as Belgium – is one way to make the planet better for our future generations.
What are your thoughts? Please comment below and share this news!
True Activist / Report a typo
