China remains a highly polluting country, but it is also witnessing a real ‘green miracle’: its government has embarked on a plan to rapidly reforest the vast country with its vast expanses of desert. The forest gains an area of 50,000 square kilometers each year, and over the last five years 70,000 million euros have been invested in it.
Saihanba is a district located in the northernmost region of the Chinese province of Hebei. It is a large forest park with an area of 200 square kilometers.but until 60 years ago it was completely desert and barren, affected by the overuse of forests and the powerful sandstorms that have devastated this region since the 17th century.
However, the Chinese authorities decided to start work, and in mid-1962, the State Forestry Administration of the Chinese Government gave the green light to the reforestation project in the area. The goal was truly ambitious: to turn this region into a vegetable lung for northern China.
In this way, Saihanba Mechanical Forest Farm began developing the strategy aimed at turning the area into a green oasis. This is how 369 junglers started Reclaiming more than 20,000 hectares, work by three generations of Chinese foresters. In fact, only failures were harvested in the first moments, and it was necessary to correct the strategies and persist in the attempt to get the first fruits, but much later.
The world’s largest artificial forest
This artificial forest is one of the main posters of the Sustainable China plan supported by the Government. More than 618 different species, including 312 genera of vascular plants, were planted in the forest park.
To achieve this result, many difficulties had to be faced, since the climatic conditions of the region were one of the main problems for the development of the forest.
In winter, frosts can reach minus 43 degrees Celsius, while mildly warm days only last a few months. Because of these conditions, foresters developed artificial crop technologies. It was like this The species’ initial survival rate has increased from 8% (in the first years) to 98%.
Saihanba today, 80% vegetationcapable of protecting and purifying 137 million cubic meters of water per yearAccording to Chinese government data. In contrast, the Chinese Academy of Forestry said that this forest farm More than 860,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) and releases an additional 600,000 tons of oxygen per year.
In 2017, the United Nations awarded the Chinese man-made forest with the World Champions Award., recognizing its environmental contribution, is restoring a completely degraded landscape. In this context, President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, expressed his “proud” for the work done in this forest. That’s why the president calls for “preserving the spirit of Saihanba” to deepen the country’s ecological protection.
hit the Chinese woodland
But This forest is nothing but a small drop of water in the great ocean of Chinese green. The progress the Asian giant has made in planting forests is astonishing.
At the beginning of the 21st century, the Chinese government announced the implementation of a reforestation plan. in the whole country. The goal: to transform China into an eco-civilization, to green this region, many of which have been severely affected by weather events since the late 1990s.
Thus, environmental degradation has become a state issue. With a country that has almost turned into a gigantic desert and a mass of forest barely reaching 14% of its surface. Since 2001, according to official figures from the State Forestry Administration, China saves an average of 50,000 square kilometers of forest per year (More than twice the Commonwealth of Valencia and slightly more than Aragon).
By the end of 2020, almost a quarter of China’s land is covered with green, equivalent to about 20 million hectares. According to environmental experts, China would have already reached 25% forest coverWhat it takes to become an eco-civilization. This translates to an 18% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions and water savings of close to 23%, the report says. green is gold.
On your own behalf investment in afforestation has been around 70,000 million euros in the last five years. Restrictions and sanctions on companies that practice deforestation are increasing. There is no other country in the world that has recovered as much green space as China this century. However, the country remains the leader in the list of countries emitting CO2. And 27% of its land is still arid.
There is still much to be done, but efforts to purify the country with green coverage are indisputable. And its effects are, gradually, noticeable in the population. In Beijing alone, the risk of sandstorms in the spring has decreased by 70% over the past decade. Artificial forests fulfill some of their duties.
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