The Outline of the National Territorial Greening Plan (2022-2030) has Released

Introduction

Recently, the National Greening Committee has completed the "Outline of the National Land Greening Plan （2022-2030）", which was considered and issued by the plenary session of the National Greening Committee. The Outline provides a comprehensive layout of China's land greening work for the current and future period, and sets out a timetable and roadmap for scientifically advancing the high-quality development of nation's land greening work.

On the morning of the September 9th, the National Greening Committee Office, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the National Forestry and Grassland Administration jointly held a press conference on the Outline of the National Land Greening Plan and the results of the survey on the resources of old and valuable trees, the National Forestry and Grass Bureau introduced the relevant information of the Outline.

The Outline specifies that the main objectives of the 14th Five-Year Plan period are to complete the greening of 82.4 million acre of the country's land through afforestation and grass planting, and to treat 16.5 million acre of sandy land. The greening coverage of urban built-up areas will reach 43%, and that of villages will reach 32%. The capacity of the ecosystem to sequester carbon will be further enhanced, the role of the ecological security barrier will be significantly brought into play, and the urban and rural habitat will be significantly improved. By 2030, the quality and stability of the natural ecosystem will continue to improve, the management of sandy land and soil erosion will steadily move forward, the carbon sink increment of the ecosystem will be significantly increased, the supply capacity of ecological products will be significantly enhanced, the national ecological security barrier will be further be solidified, and the ecological condition will continue to improve.

The Outline proposes to focus on the following eight areas of work in the current and future period:

1.Arrange greening space reasonably

Carry out spatial suitability assessment of afforestation and greening, and clearly implement the planned afforestation and greening space into the national spatial planning, and put it on the map and into the database and unified management. The annual greening tasks will be arranged scientifically and reasonably, and the land will be put on the map. Reasonably increase urban greening area, coordinate and promote rural greening and beautification. Illegal occupation of arable land for afforestation and greening will be strictly prohibited.

2.Continue to carry out afforestation and greening

Comprehensively strengthen the protection of natural forests, continue to promote the development of the Great Green Wall, consolidate the achievements of returning farmland to forests and grass, and scientifically carry out comprehensive management of water and soil erosion. Organize and implement projects for the integrated protection and restoration, as well as pilot demonstrations for land greening, and regional systematic management of forests and grasslands of mountains, water, forests, fields, lakes, grassland and sands. Support the participation of social capital in the greening of the nation's land.

3.Comprehensively strengthen urban and rural greening

Promote the development of beautiful and livable cities and towns, and continue to carry out the creation of forest cities and garden cities as models. Strengthen the protection and management of old and valuable trees, and not to relocate and cut down large and old trees at will. Strengthen the construction of green channel networks, carry out greening along water conservancy projects, around rivers, canals, lakes and reservoirs, and strengthen the construction of farmland protection forests. Innovate to carry out voluntary tree planting of the people.

4.Reinforce grassland ecological restoration

Strengthen grassland use control, implement grassland ecological subsidy and incentive policies, and fully implement grassland rest and recuperation. Ensure natural restoration as the main focus, and implement degraded grassland treatment with classifications. Strengthen the construction of grassland reserves, promote the construction of state-owned grassland, and promote large-scale restoration and treatment.

5.Promote sand prevention and control and rock desertification management

Strengthen the treatment of sandy land in areas such as source areas of wind and sand, sand and dust paths and desert peripheries, and promote the creation of a national demonstration area for comprehensive sand prevention and control. Implement the sandy land closure protection system and designate sandy land closure protection zones in accordance with the law. Accelerate the restoration of vegetation in karst areas and the comprehensive management of stone desertification.

6.Consolidate and improve the quality of greenery

Establish a sound post-greening maintenance and care system. Promote the parallel management of natural forests and public welfare forests. Strengthen the cultivation of natural young forests and carry out scientific management of planted forests. Actively and steadily carry out the restoration of degraded secondary forests and promote the renewal of degraded protective forests such as the Great Green Wall. Cultivate precious tree species, large-diameter timber and high-quality bamboo timber.

7.Enhancing the carbon sink capacity of ecosystems

Scientifically carry out forest regeneration and implement a multi-objective management model that focuses on enhancing the carbon sink capacity of forests. Strengthen the restoration of degraded grasslands and continuously increase grassland carbon stocks. Continuously promote national forest and grassland carbon sink measurement and monitoring. Promote the development and trading of forest and grassland carbon sinks, innovate and promote the forest and grassland carbon sink to participate in the of enterprises' carbon neutral practice, and implement market-based compensation for the value of carbon sinks in the greening of the country.

8.Strengthen the construction of support capacity

Newly build a number of seed-picking bases for native tree species, shrub species and precious tree species, strengthen the development of grass seed breeding bases, and improve the production capacity and usage rate of good seeds. Increase the promotion of scientific and technological innovation and improve the standard system for the nation's land greening. Promote the construction of forestry and grassland ecological network sensing system. Improve the forest and grassland fire prevention and extinguishing system. Implement a five-year campaign to prevent and control the pine worm disease epidemic.

By 2021, the national forest coverage rate will reach 24.02%, and the forest storage volume will reach 19.493 billion cubic meters, maintaining continuous growths in both forest area and forest storage volume; 100 million acres of grass planting and improvement have been completed, with the comprehensive vegetation cover of grasslands reaching 50.32%, and the trend of continuous grassland degradation have been initially stopped. In addition, 49.4 million acre of sand prevention and control have been completed, the degree of land desertification and wind and sand hazards have been reduced, the quality and stability of the ecosystem have been improved, and the ecological awareness of the whole society has been significantly enhanced, laying a solid foundation for the construction of ecological civilization and beautiful China.

Source: <https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/JywhoWBkiS_JEN2pDOrhIg>

Translated by: Junyi Fan