Expand Greening, Realize the Benefits, and Protect the Results

Expand Greening, Realize the Benefits, and Protect the Results*

April 3, 2024

The Qingming Festival is an optimal time to plant trees, when our country’s lands are brimming with vitality. Today, we plant trees in the hopes of inspiring our fellow citizens to actively participate in afforestation. We encourage each of you to become a role model in this endeavor and contribute to building a beautiful China. Together, let us write a new chapter in Chinese modernization that highlights harmony between humanity and nature.

This is the 17th consecutive year that I have participated in the voluntary tree-planting activity in Beijing since I became a member of the central leadership. This year also marks the 45th anniversary of China’s Tree-planting Day. Thanks to nationwide efforts, we have achieved truly remarkable results in afforestation. Our formerly barren mountains have donned green cloaks, and our deserts have been transformed into oases. Nevertheless, we should note that the problem of insufficient vegetation coverage that faces our country is still prominent, and the immense potential of forests as a treasure trove has yet to be fully realized. To expand greening is to grow our strength, and to plant trees is to cultivate our future. We should plant trees year after year and generation after generation, to constantly build up our green wealth.

In our national afforestation effort, we should attach equal importance to expanding greening, realizing the benefits, and protecting the results. Expanding greening requires advancing our large-scale greening programs in a well-conceived manner. This calls for planting suitable tree species using the best methods and at the optimal time, tailored to local environmental conditions. We must ensure that every tree we plant survives and every forest we create thrives. To realize the benefits of afforestation, we must focus on both quality and impact, while exploring new ways to transform lucid waters and lush mountains into invaluable assets. This involves optimizing the multifunctional roles of forests in water conservation, economic development, food production, and carbon sequestration, thereby realizing their eco-environmental, economic, and social benefits. Protecting the results of afforestation means taking greater care of our forests and grasslands and ensuring effective fire prevention and control. This requires comprehensive initiatives to identify and address potential risks, so that we can preserve the hard-won achievements of our greening efforts. The northwest, north and northeast China are the main battlefields of our greening campaign. We should concentrate more resources on the shelterbelt program in these regions, to build it into an impenetrable green Great Wall.

Every citizen has a role to play in our national afforestation effort. We should facilitate public participation, create new avenues to become involved, and maximize the contribution of the forest chiefs system. This will engage all sectors of society and ensure solid progress in our nationwide tree-planting initiative.

* Main points of the speech at a voluntary tree-planting activity in Beijing.

(Not to be republished for any commercial or other purposes.)