CHONGQING: In the remote mountains in southwest China’s Chongqing municipality, rows of saplings planted by local villagers are undertaking a lot of “missions.”
“There are more than 47 hectares of artificially cultivated and other forests in the village of Xiaoshuiba, which is part of the national reserve forests project,” said Hong Jiaguo, deputy director of the forestry bureau of Chengkou County. Located deep in the Daba Mountains, the county has seen more than 70 percent of its areas covered by forest.
In April 2018, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration published the National Reserve Forests Construction Plan (2018-2035). By 2035, China plans to build 20 million hectares of national reserve forests to meet the self-sufficiency of general timbers.
Chongqing started the construction of about 333,000 hectares of national reserve forests in January last year, with a total investment of 19 billion yuan (about 2.7 billion U.S. dollars). Chengkou is the first experimental demonstration county of the project.
Meanwhile, the national reserve forests have also undertaken the mission of ecological restoration. “The planted saplings have painted many barren hills green with vegetation,” Hong said. – Agencies
