Beijing aims to become over 40 percent green

This year Beijing plans to expand afforestation by 230,000 mu (37,889 acres), of which 9,000 mu of greenbelt will be in the urban areas. The expansion will raise the city's forest coverage to 43.5 percent, and the citizen's per capita public green area to 16.3 square meters. 

In 1985, Beijing established the city's tree-planting day as the first non-working day of April, which fell on April 1 this year. This spring, various districts organized tree-planting activities throughout the city. Over 250 residents of Haidian district planted over 1,500 trees and shrubs in the designated areas of the district. Residents from Dongcheng district held their tree-adoption campaign for the second straight year, adopting more than 460 trees.

Since the beginning of the year, Beijing has set up 32 receptions for general tree-adoption, 27 receptions for adopting ancient and precious trees, and 31 receptions for adopting green land. Around 700,000 trees, 745 ancient trees, and 2.17 million square meters of green land await to be adopted by citizens.

Beijing has also established 22 receptions for people who would like to take part in maintenance management, such as watering, weeding, and cleaning, for over 16,000 mu of green land. 

Starting in spring, city records estimate the participation number of people in voluntary tree-planting activities at 1.28 million. Residents have planted 610,000 trees and shrubs, dug 600,000 tree pits, taken care of 6.02 million trees, and handed out 909,000 promotional materials.

Officials from the Municipal Gardening and Greening Bureau said that Beijing will choose to plant native tree species that are long-lasting, resilient, and appealing to guarantee the quality and longevity of afforestation.