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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 flood
land 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 12/15/2000)
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