Shandong will plant trees on a large scale in the next three years since 2014, according to a press conference held by Shandong government on March 11.

Wu Qinggang, Vice Director of Shandong Forestry Department said that the region has more than 30 percent forest coverage, its air has noticeably improved and rainfall will increase.

Shandong is in the bottom of the ranking of China's forest coverage of China. Besides, many of the trees are of the same type, 56.69 percent are poplar trees. However, many plants have less than 10 percent coverage, and the figure is decreasing every year.

In the face of the serious smog problem in China, Zhang Wei, the vice-dean of Institute of Forestry Monitoring and Planning said using forest carbon sinks is the most economic and most effective way to solve the problem.

A Carbon sink means that forest plants absorb some carbon-containing chemical compounds from the air and fix it in the plant or soil, which can effectively decrease the chemical concentration in the air. In 2012, forests in Shandong absorbed 386 million tons of carbon dioxide.