Local residents plant saplings in Panlong District of Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province, March 11, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

China stepped up its greening efforts last year with 4.446 million hectares of forest planted, a report from the National Greening Commission said on Wednesday.

This figure is higher than the 3.998 million hectares of afforestation achieved in 2023, the commission stated.

China on Wednesday celebrated its 47th National Tree Planting Day.

In 2024, the country also restored 3.224 million hectares of degraded grassland and upgraded 2.783 million hectares of sandy and stony land, the report showed.

Last year, the output value of China's forestry and grassland industry reached 10.17 trillion yuan (about 1.42 trillion U.S. dollars) -- up 9.6 percent year on year, the report revealed.

Notably, 2.76 billion ecotourism trips were recorded in 2024, an increase of 9.1 percent from the previous year, it said.