Choosing what kind of trees or plants to grow in efforts to make the urban environment green has become an issue of urgency.

However, this matter has invited criticism on what some perceive as unhealthy practices.

Qiu Baoxing, vice-minister of construction, for one, severely reprimanded the practice by some cities of spending too much money buying expensive trees in their urban afforestation efforts. Such irrational practice has resulted in the waste of money while hardly doing any good to ecological improvement.

The trees or plants that have been planted in urban areas should help improve and protect the natural environment and maintain ecological balance. This should be the key criterion for urban afforestation.

Behind this criterion is a simple logic that we grow trees or plants to make the environment more ecologically friendly to residents who are living here. Following this logic, trees or plants that are good for ecological balance should be planted.

Unfortunately, some other elements have been attached to the urban afforestation endeavor, which has deviated from its original intention.

Some local officials prefer to select those trees or plants that look nicer, which may outshine other cities just in appearance. Some even take this endeavor as an opportunity to make easy money by taking bribes from buying expensive trees or importing grass overseas.

As a result, grass has been planted in large areas in cities in north China, where water shortage has been haunting many cities for years. Yet, a great amount of water has to be used to keep those lawns green. So instead of keeping ecological balance, these lawns have become water guzzlers.

The vice-minister of construction said that a principle should be maintained that trees or plants that adapt to the local environment and do not need much water to keep them alive need to be selected for urban areas.

This requirement is indeed timely and necessary. In some cities, manpower has been employed to uproot wild plants from among the artificially planted plants or trees on the ground.

Yet, the fact is ignored that those wild plants adapt to the local environment and can survive without being watered and are thus good for the local ecology.

Only by taking ecological consideration as the priority can local officials make the right choice in greening their cities for their residents.

The vice-minister also said more bicycle lanes need to be constructed for those who cycle instead of driving, and walking trails should be built for urban dwellers.

(China Daily May 9, 2006)