This photo taken on July 21, 2022 shows a view of the Mount Geladandong in the source region of the Yangtze River in northwest China's Qinghai province. The ecological environment in the Sanjiangyuan National Park has continued to improve since the establishment of the national park in 2021. [Photo/Xinhua]

China has increased forest coverage to over 25% — representing a quarter of the world's new green areas — and is leading global environmental restoration while promoting economic growth, senior officials said at a Wednesday news conference.

Liu Guohong, director of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, said at a news conference held by the State Council Information Office that over the past five years, China has greened 36.6 million hectares of land, including 12.33 million hectares of new forests, an area comparable to the size of Fujian province.

"China has seen the most and fastest increase in greenery in the world," he said.

The public has greatly benefited from the growth of the forestry and grassland industry, he added. For example, in 2024, the booming bamboo industry in Anji county, Zhejiang province, boosted incomes for nearly 40,000 local bamboo farmers.

Also last year, the forestry and grassland industry's output value surpassed 10 trillion yuan ($1.4 trillion), creating jobs for over 60 million people. Meanwhile, the forest ranger workforce nationwide remained at over 1.7 million.

Minister of Natural Resources Guan Zhiou said at the news conference that China is managing natural landscapes as a whole, including mountains, waters and forests.

The nation has developed a large-scale protection system from the mountains to the seas, carrying out projects such as the rehabilitation of abandoned mines, the restoration of coastlines and coastal wetlands, and the expansion of mangrove areas.

"China has become one of the few countries in the world to have a net increase in mangrove areas," Guan said.

The country has also made strides in creating national parks.

In 2021, China announced the official openings of its first five national parks: the Three-River-Source National Park, the Giant Panda National Park, the Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park, the Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park and Wuyishan National Park. Liu said these parks have since integrated over 120 nature reserves, which has helped improve the variety and health of ecosystems.

He said that over the past five years, the Three-River-Source National Park has provided a 50 percent increase of water to downstream waterways.

In the Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park, the number of wild tigers increased from 27 in 2017 — the park's trial period — to about 70 in 2025, and the number of leopards grew from 42 to roughly 80 during the same period.

And the Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park has seen an increase in the number of Hainan gibbons, making it the only continuously growing population among the world's gibbons.

The national parks initiative emphasizes environmental protection alongside livelihood improvement, Liu said.

Nearly 50,000 people have found jobs related to the parks close to home, with each person earning an annual salary of 10,000 to 20,000 yuan, he said.

Since their official openings, the Wuyishan National Park's eco-friendly tea gardens have boosted the tea industry's value to 15 billion yuan, and the Giant Panda and Hainan Tropical Rainforest parks have served as nature education platforms, he said.