This Day, That Year

40 years on

Editor’s Note: This year marks the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening-up policy.

Since its initiation in February 1979, Beijing has held a voluntary annual tree-planting drive.

On National Tree Planting Day, March 12, people across the country, from college students to the elderly, are encouraged to plant trees.

At least 200 million saplings have been planted since the campaign began, according to the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Landscape and Forestry.

Beijing has undertaken ambitious reforestation initiatives. According to the bureau, the forest coverage rate rose from 12.8 percent in 1980 to 42.3 percent by the end of 2016. The percentage of green coverage in urban areas rose from 20 percent to 48 percent in the same period.

Last year, another 1 million saplings were planted in the city by the public, in line with ongoing efforts to protect the environment, maintain ecological security and fight air pollution.

This year, a new campaign has been launched to raise the capital’s forest coverage rate to 45 percent by 2022. By the end of this year, trees will be planted over an area of 15,333 hectares in the capital, which will cost about 10.6 billion yuan ($1.7 billion).

In 2009, Beijing and neighboring Hebei province launched a massive forest shelter program to alleviate sandstorms and protect the capital’s major source of water from the Miyun and Guanting reservoirs. By 2020, nearly 70,000 hectares of forest are set to be planted.