Sichuan to build 4 forest city clusters

Sichuan will strive to build 4 forest city clusters in Chengdu Plain, south Sichuan, northeast Sichuan and the Panxi (Panzhihua and Xichang) area respectively by 2020, according to a document released by the General Office of Sichuan Provincial People’s Government recently.

Currently, there are not enough forest cities in the province, per capita possession of such city area is low and existing forest cities are of low standard, said the document.

The four clusters will include 30 forest cities, 100 forest towns and 300 demonstrative forest villages.

To achieve the goal, Sichuan will make forests as part of its key infrastructure, improve systematic planning for urban green spaces and strengthen control of construction activities on existing and planned green spaces.

The province will push forward the construction of ecological belts around forest cities by turning vacant land and barren hills into parks and green spaces.

Cites at county level and above should have at least one forest or wetland park each in their urban or suburban areas by 2020; to form a forest city cluster, involved cities need to make joint efforts to green the mountains, water systems and trunk roads that run through all of them.

Inside a city, networks of roadside trees and waterfront trees will be created by joining the green spaces. To improve the quality of urban forests, indigenous plants will be preferred because they are highly adaptable to local conditions. Arbors will prevail over other varieties.

Pursuing a high speed in planting tree at the cost of quality, and unscientific introduction and breeding of trees will be strictly prohibited.

To give full play to the ecological and economic function of urban forests, more parks and green spaces will be open to the public, and distinctive industries pertaining to such forests will be developed to help alleviate poverty.

Sichuan will make a dynamic assessment once every five years and award successful practices.