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Page added on September 20, 2018
China’s new forests will be the size of Ireland
China will plant new forests covering an area roughly the size of Ireland this year as it aims to increase forest coverage to 23 percent of its total landmass by the end of the decade, China Daily reported on Friday.
Planting trees has become a key part of China’s efforts to improve its environment and tackle climate change, and the government has pledged to raise total coverage from 21.7 percent to 23 percent over the 2016-2020 period, said the China Daily, citing the country’s top forestry official.
Zhang Jianlong, head of the State Forestry Administration, said at a meeting on Thursday that China would aim to grow at least 6.66 million hectares of new forest this year.
He said 33.8 million hectares of forest had been planted nationwide over the last five years, with a total investment of more than 538 billion yuan ($82.88 billion), bringing the country’s total forest area to 208 million hectares.
Three new state forests with a total area of 483,000 hectares would also be built in the new Xiongan development zone in Hebei province, he said.
The heavily polluted Hebei, which surrounds the capital Beijing, has also pledged to raise total forest coverage to 35 percent by the end of 2020.
China, which has to feed a quarter of the global population using just 7 percent of the world’s arable land, has long struggled to strike a balance between industrial growth, maximizing food production and protecting its environment.
The government is currently promoting an “ecological red line” program which will force provinces and regions to restrict “irrational development” and curb construction near rivers, forests and national parks.
The environment ministry said last month that 15 provinces had already drawn up plans, with the remaining 16 aiming to do so this year, but it is not yet clear what impact the policy will have on the country’s farmland.
($1 = 6.4915 yuan)
20 Comments on "China’s new forests will be the size of Ireland"
Davy on Thu, 20th Sep 2018 11:22 am
The damage has been done. You can’t make a scar go away. Urbanization, industrialization, and agriculture will barely be phased by any of this. Despite this reality something can be saved.
onlooker on Thu, 20th Sep 2018 11:34 am
I am sure China is good at playing God and creating a whole new forest ECOSYSTEM from scratch haha Let hear it for us Primates doing some geoengineering
fmr-paultard on Thu, 20th Sep 2018 12:07 pm
free ad space for china
bob on Thu, 20th Sep 2018 2:37 pm
No plan like this has ever been successful in all of history. I doubt this will be the first. Only the DMZ between North and South Korea and the Chernobyl exclusion zone have reverted to natural normal ecosystems. And I’m not sure you can count Chernobyl as it is still radioactive.
twocats on Thu, 20th Sep 2018 5:14 pm
is there a comparable project that has been tried? where are they getting the water? and will it stop/reverse desertification or are they planting marginal lands or arable lands? are they substituting African farmland?
onlooker on Thu, 20th Sep 2018 5:39 pm
Bob, I am not in the field of agricultural sciences. But it seems to me you cannot just plant some trees and expect a thriving ecosystem to evolve there. At least not in a short period of time. Typical of us modern humans to think we can duplicate Nature so easily
Wilford Brimley on Thu, 20th Sep 2018 6:04 pm
Wow, humankind actually doing something in the opposite direction of destroying life?! I’m flabbergasted. Will Trump take China to international court? Is this considered by most Americans to be a crime against humanity? Didn’t China do calculations to figure out that this is probably not going to make money? If it doesn’t make money then this is a blasphemy against humanity, right? I mean isn’t it our God given right to eliminate, destroy, excise, cull, cut, shred, rip, execute, torture, capture, cage and desiccate all life in any form from existence, except ourselves of course as we multiply into billions more? Isn’t it humankinds goal to live without any other life except ourselves and what we want to eat?
Is this some kind of joke? People actually planting trees that aren’t to be cut down like xmas trees?! Maybe Trump should threaten China over this. Bomb them for the sheer gall to actually plant things that will live in places mankind could instead regurgitate some profit from. Even if the land was just used for giant flea markets to sell baubles, then wouldn’t it serve man more?
From a standpoint of our species absolute, pure, raging hatred of nature, I find this most unsettling. (sarc)
makati1 on Thu, 20th Sep 2018 6:30 pm
Actually, much of Pennsylvania was reforested in the last 200 or so years. The mountains were logged and mostly bare at various times in the past. Then replanted and re harvested. I remember seeing the bare places in my youth.
“Prior to European settlement, the length of time between major disturbances in most Pennsylvania forests was probably about 300 years. However, much of today’s forest did not exist 60 to 90 years ago. Large-scale industrial logging, subsequent wide- spread fires, and the devastating chestnut blight had eliminated nearly all of Pennsylvania’s old-growth forest by 1930. Huge areas of the Commonwealth were entirely deforested, and the magnificent forests we enjoy today literally rose from the ashes naturally with the advent of effective forest fire prevention and control programs.”
https://extension.psu.edu/timber-harvesting-in-pennsylvania-information-for-citizens-and-local-government-officials
Now, you would not know that it ever happened. The ecosystem is much as it was 200 years ago, except no mountain lions and few trees more than 70 years old. So, it can be done. The China bashers don’t want to admit that it is a good idea, even if there are no humans left to enjoy its maturity.
onlooker on Thu, 20th Sep 2018 7:07 pm
Wilford, nice capturing the violence and craziness of our Civilization. And Mak, too bad all these type of endeavors were not in vogue like 50 years ago or so, perhaps our collective course would then be different.
JuanP on Thu, 20th Sep 2018 7:21 pm
China has been doing this for decades with great success. Now they are scaling up the program big time. For those interested in watching a very good video on the subject, I recommend John Liu’s “Greening the desert” on YouTube.
onlooker on Thu, 20th Sep 2018 7:25 pm
Juan, they have been doing good things but also bad, as they are recognized as one of the most polluted countries in the world if not the most.
MASTERMIND on Thu, 20th Sep 2018 8:12 pm
United States Drug Overdoes 1980-2016
https://imgur.com/a/bs4TlpA
Boney Joe on Thu, 20th Sep 2018 8:34 pm
onlooker
Nailed it.
Boney Joe on Thu, 20th Sep 2018 8:34 pm
Wilford Brimley
Nailed it.
makati1 on Thu, 20th Sep 2018 9:02 pm
onlooker, and by whose judgement is that assertion made? Why a department of the US MSM propaganda machine, no less. I guess we can ignore the massive pollution in the us as no existent?
Love Canal?
The coal seams burning in West Virginia and Pennsylvania?
The water wells polluted by fraking?
The chemicals and drugs in the US waterways and systems?
The dying Gulf of Mexico from pollutants in the Mississippi?
The smog in the cities?
The the chemicals and drugs in everything Americans eat?
The pollution of the mind and body from the exploding drug problem?
And on and on.
Just because it is not visible to you does not mean it doesn’t exist.
BTW: If trumpet managed to get manufacturing and industry to return to the US, so would the visible pollution. People in glass houses should not throw stones. LMAO
onlooker on Thu, 20th Sep 2018 9:27 pm
Mak, no doubt US is polluted, so is much of the world including China. The many photos, videos and accounts from independent sources like tourists etc. attest to high pollution levels in China.
makati1 on Thu, 20th Sep 2018 9:52 pm
onlooker, just because it is viable does not make it worse than the invisible pollution.
You might want to scan this article and look at the map. July 2017.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/maps-and-graphics/co2-emissions-per-capita-ranking/
Note: (Tons of CO2 per capita)
US 16.22
China 6.66
Philippines 0.97
Which country is the worst polluter per capita, the only number worth comparing. Anything else is comparing apples to carrots.
Cloggie on Fri, 21st Sep 2018 1:55 am
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/01/05/china-plant-forest-size-ireland-bid-become-world-leader-conservation/
https://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/blogs/china-green-grain-reforestation-project-growing-pains
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2017/0628/China-spent-100-billion-on-reforestation.-So-why-does-it-have-green-deserts
https://cleantechnica.com/2018/01/06/huge-china-reforestation-campaign-kicks-high-gear/
Cloggie on Fri, 21st Sep 2018 11:38 am
Ireland = 84,000 km2
247 acres are one km2 (I’m sorry, there are still people juggling with acre, feet, stone, BTU, etc)
http://www.arborenvironmentalalliance.com/carbon-tree-facts.asp
100 metric tons of CO2 can be accumulated in one acre of forest over time.
So if our 2018 planted Chinese forest has matured, it has captured 84,000 * 247 * 100 metric ton CO2 = 20 billion metric ton CO2.
Annual Chinese CO2 production: 10 GT
https://tinyurl.com/a4jgf5m
A GT is 1 billion ton
In other words, our XXL forest will absorb 20/10 = 2 years worth of Chinese annual CO2 output, which is impressive.
makati1 on Fri, 21st Sep 2018 7:28 pm
Too little, too late. Those trees will never mature. Climate change will either stunt their growth, or end it, when it gets too hot/dry. But, I support their effort. It is more than the US is doing.