Shanxi province's forest area increased to 36,952.87 square kilometers in 2021 – a coverage rate of 23.57 percent, according to the Shanxi Forestry and Grassland Bureau on Jan 25.

In recent years, Shanxi has been focusing on the greening of ecologically fragile areas on Lyuliang Mountain, the ecological barrier around Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, vegetation restoration areas in important water sources, and barren hills along roads.

It has planted 250 million trees across an area of more than 15,333 sq km and greened 2,500 villages.

Meanwhile, the province has also taken effective measures to protect forest resources. Using remote sensing technology, it has carried out forest inspections, uncovering problems related to the illegal destruction of forest resources.

The province plans to continue with afforestation and greening efforts, develop its forestry economy, green suitable barren mountains in the Yellow River basin by the end of 2025, and achieve an annual growth of 0.5 percentage points in local forest coverage rate.