At the ongoing 2000 Shanghai Forum of Science and Technology, Prof. Jiang Zehui, president of the Chinese Academy of Forestry, expressed her admiration of the achievements in afforestation and eco-environmental construction in the past decade, which has been oriented towards constructing city forests, planting trees along rivers, lakes, railways and highways, as well as anti-desertification in the western part of the country.

However, Prof. Jiang pointed out that the deterioration of the eco-environment in China, as a whole, has not been under complete control, the construction has lagged far behind the destruction of the eco-environment and currently China has one of the most fragile eco-environment’s in the world.

Statistics show that soil-eroded areas have expanded to 1.79 million square km and desertified areas have reached 2.62 million square km and continue to expand by 2,400 square km annually. In addition, 15-20 percent of plant species is on the verge of extinction.

According to Jiang, eco-environmental protection has become a vital factor that affects the sustainable development of the national economy and other social undertakings.

As for the long-term objective of China’s efforts, Prof. Jiang held that it should include the establishment of a high-quality and efficient system in afforestation, forestry management, forestry safety assurance and eco-environmental supervision.

Professor Jiang concluded her presentation by pointing out that afforestation in cities should stress the ecological benefits rather than to solely contribute to scenery-development.

At present, forest coverage in China stands at 16.5 percent, lagging far behind countries with dense natural forest. In terms of man-made forests, China ranks first in the world, with a combined area of 45 million hectares.

(People’s Daily 11/08/2000)