Centering on the strategy of "Opening up the west, plant trees and grow grass first", the Tibet Autonomous Region Greenery Committee has lately issued a circular demanding a region-wide drive for planting trees to improve the ecological environment of Tibet.

Various compulsory greenery bases have already been set up by government departments, enterprises and educational institutions at different levels for tree planting throughout Tibet. Following the call of the Autonomous Region Greenery Committee, compulsory pledges have been made by various units for a yearly quota of planting 3 trees per person durin a period of five years of tree planting in the future.

Abu, chief of the Autonomous Region Forestry Department said at a TV conference on Tibet Ecological Environmental Protection and Construction that from 1981 to 1999 over 80 million trees have been planted to give a preservation area of 53,300 hectares of artificial forest in Tibet.

With the coming of spring for planting trees there are already as many as 160,000 willow trees that have been planted by the Tibetan people. It is reported an estimated amount of 40,000 mu. (1ha=15 mu) of compulsory afforestation area will be planted to trees in Tibet this year.