Around 50 percent of Beijing will be covered with trees in the
next five to 10 years to improve the environment, according
to the forestry administration in the capital.
To reach the goal,
the Beijing municipal government will plant thousands of trees
in three major rural areas around the city.
In addition, trees
will be planted in the Yanshan Mountains, in the northeast,
and in the Taihang Mountains, in the northwest, as well as
in key satellite towns around Beijing.
As part of the
measure, 13,300 hectares of sandy wasteland and floodland
in drainage areas along the Yongding, Chaobai and Dasha rivers
will be planted with forests.
Kangzhuang village,
in Yanqing county, and Nankou town, in Changping District,
will also be targeted. These areas often suffer from sandstorms.
More than 25 percent
of the trees are expected to be planted on the plains to the
south and east of the city and over 70 percent in the mountains.
The satellite towns
will look like garden towns with about half their areas covered
with trees, amounting to about 15 square meters of greenery
per person.
The move is intended
to prevent sandstorms that have affected the city in recent
years.
Beijing often suffers
from sandstorms in spring from Hebei Province and the Inner
Mongolia Autonomous Region.
A storm in March
this year was one of the most serious ever to have hit Beijing.
The municipal government
realized the importance of protecting the city against sandstorms
and, since then, it has introduced a series of measures to
improve the environment.
Besides planting
trees, the city is now also introducing clean-energy buses
that are environmentally friendly. Vehicle exhaust standards
have also been tightened.
Beijing, like other
local authorities in China, now attaches more importance to
the environment.
These measures
are consistent with the central government policy that puts
environmental protection and sustainable development as one
of key goals of the 10th Five-Year Plan (2000-05).
(China Daily 12/14/2000)
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