China to Plant Forest the Size of Ireland to Aid in Conservation Efforts
Marie Donlon | January 16, 2018In an ongoing effort to tackle environmental issues, the Chinese government announced plans to plant enough trees to cover an area of land the size of Ireland.
"Companies, organisations and talent that specialise in greening work are all welcome to join in the country's massive greening campaign," said Zhang Jianlong, head of China's State Forestry Administration. "Cooperation between government and social capital will be put on the priority list."
According to China’s forestry officials, the plan is to increase the total coverage from 21.7 percent to 23 percent over the next couple of years and to grow at least 6.66 million new hectares of forest this year alone. The new forested area will be located in the northeast Hebei province, the Qinghai province in the Tibetan Plateau and in Inner Mongolia toward the Hunshandake Desert.
Despite criticism that current planting efforts don't encourage biodiversity as China is focused on planting monocultures rather than forests, China is also being applauded for spending nearly $83 billion on planting trees and restoration services while also creating so-called "ecological red line" policies requiring local governments to reduce “irrational” development near forests, rivers and national parks.
According to David Wilcove, a Princeton University ecologist and evolutionary biologist, China’s program could serve as a model for other areas of the world.
"I think we are going to see bona fide land abandonment, and that’s going to create opportunities around the world for reforestation," Wilcove noted in a 2016 interview. "The critical policy question is how to restore forests that provide multiple benefits to society, including preventing soil erosion, providing timber and sustaining wildlife."