China Daily Global Edition (USA)
Xi stresses advancing ecological conservation
President praises hardworking spirit of Saihanba foresters
As China is striving to cut its carbon dioxide emissions to tackle the climate challenges, President Xi Jinping has used his recent visit of a forest farm in North China’s Hebei province to reaffirm the country’s commitment to developing green economy and advancing ecological conservation.
The 70,000-hectare Saihanba forest farm, which is on the province‘s northern tip, was an important stop of Xi’s two-day inspection tour of Chengde in Hebei province, which ended on Tuesday. The farm is regarded as a leading example of the nation’s efforts to advance ecological conservation.
During the visit, Xi learned about how the foresters manage and protect the forest farm and Hebei’s coordinated efforts to conserve its mountains, rivers, forests, farmland, lakes and grassland, as well as its efforts to control desertification.
He called for further progress in boosting the green development and ecological conservation and praised the spirit of foresters in Saihanba, who planted in recent decades the world’s biggest cultivated forest.
Xi told the foresters their work is significant and they have acted as role models to inspire the nation to achieve ecological progress.
Saihanba, located around 400 kilometers northeast of Beijing, was in the 1950s a wasteland due to rampant logging, which resulted in the Chinese capital and adjacent regions being frequently hit by sandstorms.
Organized by forestry authorities, hundreds of trailblazing foresters and engineers embarked on tree planting in Saihanba in 1962 to try to stop the rapid desertification. Since then, three generations of Saihanba foresters have managed to increase forest cover in the region from 11.4 percent in the early 1960s to 82 percent today. Such woodlands have become an important environmental shield and green lung for Beijing and neighboring regions.
Due to this dramatic transformation, Saihanba was given a Champions of the Earth award, the highest honor of the United Nations Environment Program, at the third UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi in December 2017.
Zou Chun, 63, who was retired from the Saihanba forest farm in 2019, said he started working for the farm in 1977 as a second-generation forester, and witnessed turning the barren land into a sea of trees.
“Although I’m retired, my son still works here. The development of Saihanba is the result of the persistent efforts from one generation to the next,” Zou said in an interview with China Central Television.
During his visit, Xi spoke of the hardworking spirit the Saihanba foresters demonstrated in planting the forest, saying it is part of the spiritual assets of the CPC to struggle for success.
The entire Party and nation should carry on the same spirit in their efforts to develop the green economy and promote ecological conservation, he said.
As a champion of green development, Xi has attached great importance to ecological conservation in the high-quality development of the country. He has said that “lush mountains and lucid waters are invaluable assets”.
As China’s active efforts to implement the Paris Agreement on climate change, Xi announced in September that the country aims to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060.
At the Climate Ambition Summit in December, Xi further committed to China, before 2030, lowering its carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by more than 65 percent from the 2005 level and increasing the forest stock volume by 6 billion cubic meters from the 2005 level.
To meet the goals, Xi has used every inspection tour nationwide since the start of this year to stress the need to deal with the relationship between economic growth and environmental protection, urging local governments to put ecological conservation first.
During an inspection tour of Qinghai province in June, Xi told local officials that ecological conservation should be an essential prerequisite and requirement for highquality growth.
Satellite images show that from 2000 to 2017, China contributed a quarter of the world’s newly forested land, ranking first among all countries, according to a white paper released by the State Council Information Office in June.
Vigorous measures will be taken to expand grasslands and forests, and in the next five years, forest coverage in China will hit 24.1 percent and the country’s forest stock volume will reach 19 billion cubic meters, according to the National Forestry and Grassland Administration.