Hechi makes great efforts in ecological environment protection

As of the end of 2019, Hechi's forest area was 35.69 million mu (2.38 million hectares), its stock breadth-standing volume of living trees was 84.24 million cubic meters, and its forest coverage rate reached 71.02 percent, ranking first in Guangxi.

Hechi had completed 12.23 million mu of afforestation through aerial seeding, a total of 219.86 million in tree plantations, a total of 200,200 mu of artificial forestation, and 19.32 million mu of afforestation on cordoned off hills by the end of 2019. It had also completed 262.1 million mu of construction tasks for returning farmlands to forests from 2002 to 2006, 291,100 mu of artificial afforestation, and 263,900 mu of afforestation on cordoned off hills along the Pearl River belt.

Hechi has also optimized its living environment. The city started the urban greening project in 2004 and carried out village greening construction since 2011. At present, the city has an ecological public welfare forest area of 20.4 million mu, and forest rangers receive 319 million yuan ($45.06 million) in subsidies every year. The policy of recruiting impoverished people as forest rangers has lifted 6,9000 people out of poverty.

In addition, the city has established six forest parks, including two national-level and four autonomous-level parks, with a total area of 164,900 mu. It also has a total of 715,300 mu of wetlands, including three national wetland parks. The output value of Hechi's forestry industry in 2019 was 3.37 billion yuan, and the added value of the forestry industry increased by 11.6 percent year-on-year.

An aerial view of Hechi Nationalities Park. [Photo by Tang Qilu/Hechi Daily]