Vice Premier Urges to Improve Urban Afforestation

Chinese Vice Premier Wen Jiabao urged to improve China's urban afforestation Tuesday, in a bid to perfect cities' ecological environment and residents' living conditions.

Wen Jiabao made the remarks at the national work conference on urban afforestation held here on February 26-27.

Afforestation is an essential measure to protect and improve the urban ecological environment. Over the past 20 years, many Chinese cities have performed well planting trees, however, urban greenbelts are still inadequate, Wen pointed out.

In his address, the vice premier attached importance to urban afforestation, saying that it will have a positive effect on adjusting urban and rural economic structure and increasing farmers' income.

He said steps need to be taken to extend the greenbelt through optimizing the use of urban land and implementing rational greenbelt planning, especially in downtown area.

He also suggested that the government utilize the latest technologies and used treated wastewater to reduce water consumption in urban afforestation.






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