Tree initiatives run out of land

Tree initiatives run out of land

• Source: Global Times
• [08:34 March 14 2011]
• Comments

TV host Li Jing (left), participates in a tree planting campaign in the Beijing suburbs Sunday. Photo: IC
By Xu Tianran

With limited land available, the forestry bureau is promoting alternative options for the public to meet tree planting requirements.

Over the past 30 years, Beijing citizens have planted 181 million trees with an 88-percent success rate, according to a press release issued by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Landscape and Forestry on Saturday, which was China's Arbor Day.

According to national regulations, every enterprise, institution and individual above age 11 is obliged to plant trees each year. The Beijing Youth Daily reported that the forestry bureau's target this year is 4 million trees.

"Past tree-planting activities have been so successful that there won't be enough land for more trees," said forestry bureau publicity office employee Li Xuan, "so we've introduced 18 alternative ways of tree planting."

Those options include adopting or looking after trees and grassy fields, buying carbon credits worth 60 yuan ($9.13) and participating in greening campaigns, which the bureau equates to planting one to 50 trees.

Chen Junqi, a senior researcher and the deputy director of the Forestry Carbon Administration at the Beijing Forestry and Parks Department of International Cooperation under the forestry bureau, expressed his appreciation of tree planting initiatives.

"The tree planting has had a very positive effect on the environment," Chen said, explaining that the trees help keep sand outside Beijing from blowing into the downtown area, and that soil erosion has been constrained and species variety has been greatly improved as a result.

According to Chen, the "alternative options" approach is the future for the capital's urban forestry development.

"Beijing's 37 percent forest coverage is quite high, but it doesn't mean the quality of the forest is good," Chen said, explaining that in previous tree planting campaigns before 2000, saplings were planted too densely.

"Now we need to look after the trees and cut some redundant trees to raise the quality of the forest," said Chen, who confirmed that the land available for tree planting has become very limited.

"You have to drive a long way to get to planting sites, and the carbon volume generated by your car could be greater than the carbon volume the sapling could remove," Chen said. "That's why you should buy carbon credits or let local people plant or look after the trees for you," he added.

"Besides, to buy carbon credits is an ideal approach for people who don't have the energy and time to plant trees themselves," Chen said.