Beijing’s environmental condition is expected to improve greatly in the seven years prior to the Olympics to fulfill the city’s “Green Olympics” promise, environmental experts said Tuesday.
A dozen environmental experts from the country’s leading academies and institutes including the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Peking University, Tsinghua University and the Chinese Institute of Environmental Science, began a review of the city’s 10th Five-Year (2001-05) plan on environmental protection Monday.
The municipal government plans to allocate 4 to 5 percent of its annual gross domestic product (GDP) in environmental protection projects, according to the draft plan.
By the end of 2007, the city’s vegetation coverage will be greatly increased with tree coverage in mountainous areas reaching 70 percent and coverage on plains exceeding 25 percent, according to the plan.
Green spaces in urban areas in the city will total 125 square km. Beijing’s “Green Olympics” blueprint hails harmony between human beings and nature, which is a key focus in the city’s environmental plan over the next five years, experts said.
(eastday.com 07/25/2001)
