Guiyang to strengthen afforestation efforts

A bird's-eye view of Guiyang city [Photo/Guiyang news network]

As part of its efforts to promote ecological conservation, Guiyang, the capital of Southwest China's Guizhou province, plans to increase investment in afforestation to build itself into a green city, local media reported.

It was announced in a meeting on March 9, that by 2035, Guiyang will invest around 9.29 billion yuan ($1.35 billion) into creating artificial forests, improving the quality of existing forests, restoring degraded forests, and cultivating forests that create income (economic forests). In addition, the total area of the forests that have improved in quality in the city will amount to around 1.6 million mu (110,000 hectares) by 2035.

In 2023, Guiyang will further implement its "building an eco-friendly city" strategy. It will comprehensively improve its forest quality with an emphasis on reforestation, afforestation, and the management and upgrading of the forest along the city belt.

To this end, the Guiyang bureau of forestry plans to implement four major projects: the man-made forest project; the improved forest landscape project; the restoration of degraded forest project; and the afforestation of economic forest project. This will comprehensively improve the quality of urban forests, optimize the placement of tree species, and increase the recreational space of urban residents. 

That way, Guiyang will be built into a city that integrates outdoor physical exercise, forest healthcare, and a demonstration base for the under-forest economy.

Efforts will be focused on the forest belt around the city and its natural reserves. Afforestation and the transformation of shrubberies will be carried out to increase the forest area in order to get the city's forest coverage rate to exceed 55 percent.