Three green ecological barriers have been formed, forming a circle around the city; a green belt of 25,000 hectares has been planted along the city's main rivers and highways, beating the original goal of 23,000 hectares; 12,600 hectares of forest has been established in total, exceeding the promised 12,000; and nature reserve areas 8.18 percent larger than the land area of Beijing have been established, in excess of the original 8-percent target. Meanwhile, the urban green land area and public green land area per capita in Beijing have reached 48 square meters and 12.6 square meters, respectively.

A total of 160 greening projects for 31 stadiums, 45 gymnasiums and connecting lines for roads have proceeded well in the run up to the Olympic Games. The green landscape development project covering 680 hectares in the Olympic Forest Park, the core area of the Olympic Park and National Avenue has almost come to an end. The Olympic Forest Park, which will be put into trial use on July 1-5, is the largest artificial afforested land area of Beijing. It sits near to the Bird's Nest and Water Cube and is regarded as an "axis to nature."

"We have planted 530,000 trees of 180 different breeds, and it will surely become a shining spot for the Olympics," said Yang Tong, Vice General Manager of the Olympic Forest Park Development Co. Ltd.

In recent years, the Beijing Municipal Government has taken into consideration the living environment of residents and required that each district of the city should develop one or two large-scale green areas annually. Meanwhile open space has been fully utilized to develop small green parks in accordance with the reality of residential districts so that residents have access to parks and green areas within 500 meters of their homes. In addition, various approaches have been adopted to create a greener environment for downtown areas. These include greening on roofs and developing green-covered parking lots, so that residents can enjoy a green lifestyle despite living in a city.

During the period 2001-07, the green land area in Beijing rose by 10,000 hectares, trees increased by 22.71 million and lawn areas grew by 46.53 million square meters, which greatly improved the environment in the city by sequestrating 211,000 tons of carbon dioxide. Now, Beijing has weeping willow trees along Changpuhe River, towering old trees in the Temple of Heaven, green city walls along the Second Ring Road and Landscape Avenue along the Fourth Ring Road. A large open green area covering 10,000 square meters has been developed along the Financial Street.

To help combat sandstorms, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, promulgated laws and regulations to combat desertification. In recent years, the Central Government has invested 14 billion yuan ($2.04 billion) annually to implement land control in key areas.

A total of 463 institutions in the city have worked together with 277 villages in carrying out the "Joint Efforts for Building a New Countryside" activity. They have helped each other in greening endeavors so as to make the suburban area greener and more beautiful.

Future Goals

Last year, the Communist Party of China and the Chinese Government