Heping Park in Taiyuan city [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Taiyuan city, capital of North China's Shanxi province, will accelerate its development into a national forest city in the current year, according to an announcement from Taiyuan's bureau of planning and natural resources on March 10.

According to the municipal government's tasks released for 2021, Taiyuan will complete afforestation of some 310 square kilometers, including 268 village greening projects and 307 km of passageway greening projects, and improve the quality of 100 sq km of forests. 

In terms of the layout of afforestation projects, Taiyuan will coordinate the management of mountains, forests, farmlands, lakes and grasslands. 

The layout of all afforestation projects should give priority to mountains, villages, rural parks, damaged and abandoned lands and both sides of the Fenhe River and its tributaries. Tree planting is strictly prohibited in areas reserved as farmland. 

The county-level city, counties and districts administered by Taiyuan will carry out targeted afforestation based on their actual situation and needs. 

The county-level city of Gujiao will focus on ecological restoration and the management of areas suffering from soil erosion caused by coal mining. 

Meanwhile, Loufan county will focus on increasing the forest coverage near important water sources; Yangqu county and Jiancaoping district will focus on building an ecological barrier in the north; Xiaodian district and Qingxu county will develop a farmland shelterbelt network; and Wanbailin, Yingze, Xinghualing and Jinyuan districts will build landscape forest belts around Taiyuan.