Conference site. [Photo/gxzf.gov.cn]

Guangxi's second forum, staying true to the principle that "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets," commenced on Dec 28 in Nanning, the capital city of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

Featuring ecological civilization construction and high-quality development, the forum discussed pressing issues spanning the high-quality development of forestry industry, rural revitalization, and the new development paradigm of dual circulation where domestic and overseas markets reinforce each other with the domestic market as mainstay.

The forest coverage rate of Guangxi has increased to 62.55 percent from the previous 62.24 percent since the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-20), ranking third nationwide and first in West China. The region also tops China in terms of its forest accumulation per unit area as its forest accumulation now stands at 969 million cubic meters.

Guangxi's total output value of the forestry industry has grown from 385 billion yuan ($60 billion) to 800 billion yuan during the 2016-20 period with an average annual growth of 12.9 percent. The output value of the three industries wood processing and paper making, forests economy, and forestry ecotourism has now achieved over 100 billion yuan each.

Officials from the Department of Forestry of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region noted that Guangxi is expected to achieve a total forestry output value of 1.3 trillion yuan by 2025.