A busy city is also a paradise? A forest city that Tao Yuanming could never have imagined!

Let the forest enter the city, and let the city embrace the forest. "Seeing greenery when opening the window, and entering the forest when going out" has become a reality for more and more residents. "Forest City" is a place for ecology and environment, a decompression zone for work and life, a large space for emergency and refuge, and a display area for culture and education.

National forest cities refer to cities where the urban ecosystem is dominated by forest vegetation, urban ecological construction achieves urban-rural integration, and various construction indicators meet the prescribed requirements, and are approved and awarded by the National Afforestation Committee and the State Forestry and Grassland Administration. The construction of national forest cities not only increases forest area and protects forest resources, but also greatly improves the living environment and enriches ecological culture.

Data picture: National Forest City - Changde City, Hunan Province

Over the past 10 years, my country has added 178 national forest cities, bringing the total to 218. The construction of forest cities and forest villages has formed a good trend of vigorous development across the country. So far, 31 provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps have achieved full coverage of national forest city creation, and the green coverage rate of urban built-up areas has increased from 39.22% ten years ago to 42.69% now, and the per capita park green space in cities has increased from 11.8 square meters ten years ago to 15.29 square meters now. The country has widely carried out rural greening and beautification actions, built green villages with unique characteristics, and recognized 7,586 national forest villages, with a village green coverage rate of 32.01%.

The creation of batches of national forest cities has made my country's cities greener, greener, more beautiful, and the ecological environment continuously improved. In 2019, since the establishment of the National Forest City in Linzhi City, Tibet Autonomous Region, it has gathered forces from all parties to implement sand prevention and afforestation projects. Among them, Segula Village has planted hundreds of thousands of trees. Residents said: Now the environment is better when going out, there is no sand and dust, the sky is blue, and the land is green. Since 2022, Xingtai City, Hebei Province has focused on the implementation of six afforestation projects, including greening of shallow hilly areas, greening of villages, greening of rivers and canals, construction of farmland forest networks, forest tending and restoration of degraded forests, and other afforestation, with the goal of creating a national forest city. It plans to complete afforestation of 560,000 mu throughout the year, further increase forest resources, improve forest quality, and improve the ecological environment.

In the process of promoting the construction of forest cities and forest villages, various places have taken multiple measures to adhere to the integrated protection and systematic management of mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands and sands, effectively promoting the increase, planting and protection of green areas, so that the people can truly enjoy the results of urban and rural greening. For example, Jiajiazhuang Village in Fenyang, Shanxi, one of the first national forest villages, has a forest coverage rate of more than 40%. Relying on the good and beautiful natural ecological environment, the village has developed local rural characteristic industries and ecological tourism. Every year, it receives 2 million tourists from all over the country to experience picking, picnicking, and sightseeing ecological industries in the village, which brings good income to the villagers.

Today, the torch of building national forest cities is passed from city to city, and the concept of harmonious coexistence between man and nature has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. According to the plan, 300 national forest cities will be built by 2025. By 2035, the construction of forest city clusters and forest cities will be fully promoted, the structure and function of urban forests will be fully optimized, the quality of forest cities will be comprehensively improved, the urban ecological environment will be fundamentally improved, and the equalization of ecological services in forest cities will be basically achieved.

Through the construction of national forest cities, people can more deeply feel that "a stream embraces the secluded mountains and is located in the city". This can not only achieve the harmonious development of man and nature, but also make more people understand the profound connotation of "protecting the ecological environment like protecting your eyes, and treating the ecological environment like treating your life".

Review expert: Gao Zhiling, Professor of College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Hebei Agricultural University

China Association for Science and Technology Department of Science Popularization

Xinhuanet

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