Industry News | New Achievements in Land Greening: By 2024, 7.67 million hectares of land greening tasks will be completed nationwide
The Office of the National Greening Committee released the "2024 China Land Greening Status Bulletin": In 2024, 4.446 million hectares of afforestation, 3.224 million hectares of grass improvement, and 2.783 million hectares of desertification and rocky desertification land will be treated nationwide. China's forest coverage rate has exceeded 25%, with forest storage exceeding 20 billion cubic meters, and new progress has been made in land greening work.
In 2024, the nationwide voluntary tree planting campaign will continue to deepen, with both online and offline activities advancing simultaneously. Leaders at all levels set an example, with General Secretary Xi Jinping participating in voluntary tree planting in the capital for 12 consecutive years, planting a total of 385000 trees by 93000 central and state officials and workers. At the same time, the model of "Internet plus compulsory tree planting by the whole people" has been continuously promoted. More than 2600 bases have been built and 61000 due diligence activities have been released throughout the year.
Over the past year, the national land greening campaign has steadily advanced, and significant achievements have been made in the battle against the "Three Norths" project. The government has issued the "Opinions on Strengthening Desertification Prevention and Control and Promoting the Construction of Key Ecological Projects such as the Three Norths". In order to win the three iconic battles, the central government has allocated 32 billion yuan in funds to govern an area of over 3.8 million hectares. At the same time, we vigorously promote the policy of using work for relief and explore innovative models such as "photovoltaic desertification control" and "road desertification control". Central enterprises actively participated, and the water conservancy department also supplemented more than 200 million cubic meters of ecological water for forests and grasslands in the Yellow River "several bends" tackling area. During this year, three landmark battles were fully launched and effective progress was made. The greening speed of the Eastern Annihilation Theater was significantly accelerated, the Central Assault Theater formed a joint defense and governance pattern, and the Western Blockade Theater also initially constructed a green protection belt around the Taklamakan Desert.
In the past year, new achievements have been made in the management of mountains, waters, forests, fields, lakes, grass and sand systems, and urban and rural greening and beautification have been continuously improved. We have implemented 176 "dual" projects, 10 national greening demonstration projects, and promoted 27 protection and restoration projects and 49 ecological restoration demonstration projects during the 14th Five Year Plan period. The sustainable forest management area exceeds 667000 hectares. The pilot implementation area for forest and grass carbon sequestration is 68000 hectares. 64000 square kilometers of soil erosion control have been added, more than 6200 "pocket parks" have been built, over 7300 kilometers of urban greenways have been established, 50000 kilometers of highway greening have been added, and the greening rate of railways has reached 85.9%. The construction of the "Trade Union Forest" and "Women's Forest" is accelerating, and the "Beautiful China · Youth Action" is steadily advancing.
In 2024, the protection of forest and grassland resources in China will be significantly enhanced. Revise and streamline the 'Forest Chief System Assessment Method (Trial)'. Introduce the "Regulations on the Protection of Ancient and Famous Trees" to comprehensively regulate the management of ancient and famous trees. Complete the layout of the forest and grass germplasm resource preservation library and implement resource collection actions. The National Medium - and Long Term Plan for Natural Forest Protection and Restoration has been issued, specifying the management and restoration tasks for 150 million hectares and 1.27 million hectares. Dynamically eliminate fire hazards, investigate and punish illegal use of fire, and reduce both the number of fires and the affected area. The epidemic prevention and control of pine wilt disease has reached the standard ahead of schedule, and the occurrence area of white moths in the United States has been decreasing for 7 consecutive years. The area of pest control in forestry and grassland reached 8.4 million hectares and 7.866 million hectares respectively, and 33000 hectares of rice grass were treated.
In the past year, deepening reforms has significantly improved the quality and efficiency of ecological wealth industries. Develop a "4+2" forestry and grassland reform plan and 21 measures. Implement the 'Plan for Deepening the Reform of Collective Forest Rights System', clarify 10 measures, and introduce innovative measures at the local level. Construct 220 state-owned forest farms for service reform. Practice the concept of big food, release the "Ecological Product Catalog", improve accounting methods, and develop the "Woody Grain and Oil Production Capacity Enhancement Plan". The total output value of the forestry and grassland industry was 1.017 trillion yuan, an increase of 9.6%, and forest food became the third largest agricultural product. The economic forest covers an area of 46.667 million hectares with an output value exceeding 2 trillion yuan, while the understory economic area is 40 million hectares with an output value of nearly 1 trillion yuan. 475000 hectares of oil tea were newly planted and low yield forests were renovated, resulting in a tea oil production of one million tons. The number of ecotourism tourists increased by 9.1%, reaching 2.76 billion people.