Notable achievements made in protecting natural ecosystem through restoration projects
China has made leapfrog achievements in ecological conservation and restoration over the last 10 years by carrying out nationwide campaigns to raise people's environmental awareness and perfect related laws and regulations.
Latest satellite remote sensing data showed that the water surface area of the Qinghai Lake, the country's largest inland saltwater lake located in northwest China's Qinghai Province, was over 4,625.6 square kilometers by the end of last September, thanks to increased rainfall and ecological conservation efforts.
The lake had expanded by nearly 220 square kilometers from 10 years ago, equivalent to an increase of 34 West Lakes.
It had been shrinking since the 1950s due to multiple reasons, such as human activities. The combined effects of conservation and changes in the regional climate, however, have helped to turn things around.
The Qinghai Lake is just an epitome of the country's achievements in top-down ecological protection efforts.
Over the past decade, China has improved its legislation for environmental protection, including revising the Forest Law and the Grassland Law.
agricultural carbon trading was made here. It not only increases the collective revenue of the village, but also opens a new way for the villagers to increase income through carbon trading. It makes us know that we can sell fresh air as well as tea, which proves the concept that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets," said Gao Quanwei, secretary of the Party branch at Junying Village.
Meanwhile, the central government invested 50 billion yuan (about 7.75 billion U.S. dollars) in 25 pilot projects in key national ecological function areas for ecological protection and restoration of mountains, rivers, forests, lakes and grasslands.
In June 2020, China unveiled a 15-year plan including major projects to protect and restore key ecosystems from 2021 to 2035, in an effort to strengthen the shields for ecological security and protect biodiversity.
According to the plan, the country aims to increase its forest coverage to 26 percent by 2035, raise its vegetation coverage ratio of grasslands to 60 percent, and develop nature reserves, with the protected areas covering more than 18 percent of the nation's total land area.
"Since the 18th CPC National Congress (held in 2012), we've coordinated the layout of ecological restoration work according to the geographical features of various areas, carried out systematic restoration work to treat prominent ecological problems in major regions, river basins, and sea areas, and preliminarily formed a new ecological restoration system," said Zhou Yuanbo, director of the Department of National Territory Environment
Tong'an District, where the two villages are located, is rich in agricultural resources. There are 517 hectares of ecological tea gardens and over 506 hectares of ecological forests in the two villages. Relying on the favorable ecological environment, local authorities use market mechanism to turn ecological resources into ecological capital.
"Next, we will copy the carbon Restoration under the Ministry of Natural Resources.
Last year, China completed drawing ecological protection "red lines" nationwide, demarcating no less than 25 percent of its land area for environmental protection.
The red lines are "bottom lines and lifelines" for ensuring China's ecological security, according to an official guideline.
China has established its first batch of national parks totaling 230,000 square kilometers -- the Sanjiangyuan National Park, the Giant Panda National Park, the Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park, the Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park, and the Wuyishan National Park. They cover nearly 30 percent of the key terrestrial wildlife species found in China.
This year, a second group of national parks are expected to be designated, a move to further improve the national park system amid the country's efforts of nature conservation.
Thus far, the country's overall natural ecosystem is stable and improving, and its quality in key ecological areas such as the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the Yangtze River basin and the Yellow River basin, has kept improving on the whole.
trading model in Junying Village and Baijiaoci Village and strive to build a Xiamen's model of 'agricultural carbon trading plus rural revitalization'," said Huang Qian, vice-general manager of carbon emission trading center in Xiamen.
China aims to reach carbon peak by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.