Two years ago, a chart of global forests waning and waxing since 1990 went viral on the Internet in China. The set of charts was compiled by Tariq Khokhar, a data scientist, based on data from the World Bank and showed that in the past two decades, the Earth lost 1.3 million square km of forests. China was the rare exception that had seen a rise in forests, with its increased coverage ranking first in the world. This chart is still reposted by Chinese netizens on WeChat, China's social media app, along with proud captions.

To the north of Beijing, a place called Saihanba in Chengde, Hebei Province, used to be a vast wilderness 50 years ago, but today, it is covered with trees and plants and is nicknamed the Green Pearl. In northwest China's Shaanxi Province, the Mu Us Desert was dominated by sandstorms 40 years ago, while today, it is an oasis, vibrant with plants. These are just two of the numerous success stories of desert control and forestation in the past decades that the Chinese people are very proud of. This transformation can be foremost attributed to the Chinese Government's emphasis on the ecological environment and the focus on its protection.

Forestation, sand control, river pollution treatment and air cleaning have been the major ways to clean and protect the ecological environment. China has scored striking achievements in this battle, which have caught the world's attention.

In the 1950s, right after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the government called for the nation to "green the country." At that time, since China's northern and northwestern areas were mostly covered with deserts, every spring and winter, strong winds brought sand from the north to the south and sometimes to more than half the country. In 1978, the Chinese Government decided to plant trees along these deserts on a large scale through the Three-North Shelter Forest program. In 1981, the National People's Congress approved a resolution on nationwide voluntary forestation, and since then, every spring, leaders of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the state, as well as ordinary people, take part in voluntary forestation activities.

In 1983, the Chinese Government established environmental protection as a national policy, followed by efforts on natural forests protection and major ecological improvement programs like Grain for Green. In the time-span of the past 40 years, China has invested trillions of yuan in forestation and sand encroachment prevention and control.

Thanks to unremitting efforts, China's forests and grasslands surged. Artificial forests have increased from 330 million mu (22 million hectare) in 1978 to the current 1.18 billion mu (78.67 million hectare), ranking first in the world, while China's overall forest coverage rose from 8 percent to the current 22.96 percent. China's comprehensive vegetation coverage of grassland is now 55.3 percent. The desertified area is shrinking and the year 2004 marked a historic transformation from "advancing sand and retreating humans" to "advancing green land and retreating sand." China's achievements in sand prevention and control have provided the rest of the world experience in fighting desertification, contributing to the goal of zero growth of land degradation worldwide.

Depollution of rivers and lakes and air purification posed the toughest tasks for the Chinese Government in its struggle for environmental protection. China began to transform from an agricultural country to an industrial one in 1978, and in the early years of reform and opening up, depended heavily on high energy consumption for economic growth, leading to severe river, lake and air pollution.

In order to better treat pollution, the Chinese Government released a series of regulations targeting air, water and soil, while also amending and implementing stricter environmental protection laws. Seven years of devoted treatment has effectively reversed the trend of air, water and soil deterioration, with the three indices showing dramatic improvements. The average PM2.5 density in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta in 2018 declined 48 percent, 39 percent and 32 percent, respectively, from 2013 levels. High-quality surface water of categories I-III rose to 71 percent, 3.2 percentage points higher than in 2016, while water below category V accounted for 6.7 percent, down 1.9 percentage points from 2016.

China's promotion of green development showcases a transformation from a passive response of coping with ecological problems to actively protecting the environment. The 18th National Congress of the CPC in 2012 for the first time proposed building a beautiful China as an important part of its overall scheme of national development, alongside economic, political, cultural and social development. The conviction that clear waters and green mountains are as good as mountains of gold and silver is taking root in people's hearts.

Currently in China, a green development model is taking shape featuring economic and energy restructuring, a thriving new-type ecological industrial system, and overall improvement in resource saving and recycling. Encouraged to lead a simple and low-carbon life, the Chinese public is developing a rising sense of ecological and environmental protection, reflected in details such as saving water and electricity, reusing bags and serving as environmental protection volunteers.

The way China has tried to promote its ecological development in the past seven decades is suitable for its own conditions. China's ecological improvement efforts have greatly contributed to international efforts to fight climate change and global desert controls, and are widely recognized by the international community.

Copyedited by Rebeca Toledo

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