Guiyang pushes to meet forest reserves target

The city of Guiyang – capital of Southwest China's Guizhou province – is understood to be pushing hard to go green and meet its target for forest reserves.

By December 2021, Guiyang had reserved 55,000 mu (3,666.67 hectares) of forests for the strategic use of the country and it is estimated that the State forest reserve base will reach 150,000 mu in the area administered by the capital by 2025.

Since its initiation back in 2019, the State forest reserve project has had 63,000 mu of forest authorized by the government and the bank, consisting of 33,000 mu in Kaiyang county and 30,000 mu in Xifeng county and involving a total investment of 448 million yuan ($70.43 million).

Moving forwards, Guiyang will move to combine forest reserve work with forest businesses and coordinate ecological construction with the green economy.

State-owned tree farms, community-owned tree farms and forestry economic groups are being urged to cultivate artificial forests, introduce rare tree species and expand the scale of forests for timber production.

Meanwhile, they are also required to redouble efforts to develop forest-based tourism and health maintenance programs that enable multiple categories of businesses to prosper.

Plans are for practical benefits to be brought to residents living in or around the reserved forests.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), the first phase of the State forest reserve project is expected to offer 974 jobs and bring bonuses to 75 households, with each household to receive about 16,900 yuan annually.