Last Yearend Saw 43 Percent of Forest Coverage in the Capital

Sources from the mobilization meeting on building Beijing into a green city indicate that the forest coverage in the capital has increased to some 43 percent by the end of last year. 36 percent of the city was covered by green belts, which averages some 35 square meters for every person and in urban areas the figure has reached 10 square meters in the corresponding period.

As reported, the green areas in Beijing had already increased by 112 thousand hectares during the Ninth Five-year Plan period with some large spots of green landscape to have appeared even in downtown areas.

However, sandstorm remains still a threat to the environment in Beijing, especially in springtime. Great attention has to be paid to the campaign for tree planting during the 10th Five-year Plan period, said Jia Qinglin, secretary of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) at a recent conference.

By PD Online Staff Member Yin Zhili

People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/