In 2014, China afforested 6.027 million hectares, exceeding the plan

On March 11, the Office of the National Afforestation Committee released the "2014 Communique on Land Greening in China." The communique shows that in 2014, a total of 6.027 million hectares were afforested nationwide, exceeding the afforestation plan task for the year. Central forestry investment for the year was 151.7 billion yuan, an increase of 6.7 billion yuan over 2013, and the policy support and incentive mechanisms for afforestation and greening were notably strengthened.

The communique reviewed the land greening achievements of 2014 and held that major progress was made in many areas, including the construction of key ecological restoration projects, afforestation and greening in key regions, departmental greening, desertification prevention and control, nature reserve construction and wildlife protection, wetland protection, grassland construction, and forest tending and management.

Data show that in 2014, the green coverage area of urban built-up areas increased by about 96,000 hectares, and China's per capita park green space in cities reached 12.64 sq m, an increase of 0.38 sq m over 2013; 130,000 km of newly added highway greening was completed, 1.265 million hectares of desertified land were treated, more than 500,000 hectares of new wetland protection area were added, 7.79 million hectares of forest were tended, 10.67 million hectares of grass were sown artificially, and 3,517.3 hectares of forest land illegally occupied in violation of laws and regulations were recovered; work on desertification prevention and control demonstration zones, closed protection zone pilots, and national desert park pilots was actively advanced, with 23 new pilot counties for closed protection zones and 32 national desert park pilots launched.

In terms of policies and mechanisms for afforestation and greening, encouraging progress was also made in 2014. The communique shows that forestry reform in collective forest areas was deepened, and the rate of household contracting to individual households increased by nearly 2 percentage points over 2013; new-type forestry cooperative economic organizations reached a cumulative total of 150,000, involving more than 16 million rural households, and 366 national-level demonstration forestry professional cooperatives were designated for the first time; the socialized service system was continuously improved, with more than 1,600 forest rights management service institutions established at the county level and above.

In addition, the recently completed Eighth National Forest Resources Inventory results show that China's forest area and forest stock continued to grow, forest quality gradually improved, and ecological functions continued to strengthen. The national forest area was 208 million hectares, the forest coverage rate was 21.63%, the forest stock volume was 15.137 billion cubic meters, and the forest stock per hectare was 89.79 cubic meters; the total carbon storage of national forest vegetation was 8.427 billion tonnes, and the annual value of ecological service functions exceeded 13 trillion yuan. Compared with the Seventh Inventory results, the forest area increased by 12.23 million hectares, the forest coverage rate rose by 1.27 percentage points, the forest stock volume increased by 1.416 billion cubic meters, and the forest stock per hectare increased by 3.91 cubic meters. The 2020 forest stock growth target had already been met ahead of schedule, and the forest area growth target had been nearly 60% completed.

The communique also pointed out that although land greening in 2014 achieved remarkable results, the problem of unbalanced afforestation and greening development between regions and between urban and rural areas remained very prominent; afforestation and greening in arid and semi-arid areas and rural areas remained weak areas and urgently needed strengthening; the contradiction between supply and demand for precious timber and woody grain and oil was very prominent, and efforts to cultivate precious tree species, high-quality native tree species, distinctive economic forests, and biomass energy forests still needed to be continuously increased; the quality and benefits of forests and grasslands remained at a relatively low level, and forest and grassland management, protection, and management work still needed to be continuously strengthened; phenomena such as indiscriminate felling and excessive harvesting of forest resources, indiscriminate hunting of wild animals, and illegal digging and transplanting of large and ancient trees still existed, and the occupation of forest land, grassland, green space, and wetlands was still relatively serious, so publicity, education, and law enforcement work for the protection of forests, grasslands, green space, and wetlands needed to be further strengthened. Natural disasters and extreme weather occurred frequently, the situation for preventing and controlling forest and grassland pests and fires was severe, and the task of consolidating land greening achievements remained arduous.