Forests are custodians of our planet's health, playing a critical role in reining in climate change. By dint of greening ever more of its territory China has made great strides in protecting and developing its forest resources and helping to mitigate global climate change.

The tropical seasonal rain forest in southern Yunnan, China [File photo]

Gigantic Afforestation Programs

The Chinese government attaches strategic importance to afforestation and the construction of a sound ecology. Since 1978 China has planted large shelterbelts in the "Three Northern Areas" (North, Northwest and Northeast China), the costal areas, plains, the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze River, the Taihang Mountains, the surrounds of Beijing and Tianjin, and regions by the Huaihe, Pearl and Liaohe rivers and the Taihu Lake.

In 1998 the central government adjusted its forestry development policy and has since concentrated on six major eco-preservation projects, respectively protecting natural forests, restoring farmlands to forests, checking the sources of sandstorms that attack Beijing and Tianjin, continuing planting shelter forests in the "Three Northern Areas" and along the Yangtze River, establishing plantation bases of fast-growing species, and preserving wildlife.

Every spring people across the nation volunteer to plant trees, a national campaign now in its 29th year. By the end of 2009 the numbers of participants and trees planted since its inception totaled 12.11 billion and 56.33 billion respectively, making it the world's most-participated and fruitful mass green project.

With a projected time span of 73 years, the 1978 "Three Northern Areas" shelterbelt program will be China's longest ongoing afforestation endeavor. Over its first three decades, 24 million hectares of shelterbelts have been planted, increasing the forest coverage of the "Three Northern Areas" from 5.05 percent to 10.51 percent.

The "farmlands-to-forests" project that has been underway for the past 10 years has restored in eco-fragile regions approximately 27 million hectares of forests, equivalent to the entire state-owned forest area of Inner Mongolia and the provinces of Northeast China.

The efforts to stem desertification and check sandstorms cover eight major deserts and four sandy regions, and have yielded evident results in 20 percent of them. From the late 1990s to early 2000s the pace of desertification was slowed from 3,436 to 1,283 square kilometers annually - a dramatic decrease within a very short time span.

The project to protect natural forests, the largest in Chinese history, encompasses over 100 million hectares. Over the past decade it has reported a net increase of 460 million cubic meters of growing stock (volume of living trees) in these areas, contributing 43 percent of the growth in the nation's forest resources. The number of forest nature reserves has climbed to 2,012, totaling 123 million hectares, or 12.8 percent of China's territory.

Meanwhile constant efforts have been made to increase green coverage in cities, from 10.1 percent in 1981 to the current 37.37 percent - from 3.45 to 9.71square meters per capita. Concomitant effects are the mitigation of climate change and improvement of the living environment.