Editing Reforestation (section)

==== China ====
{{See also|Afforestation#China}}

According to China's government, the forest coverage of the country grew from 10% of the overall territory in 1949 to 25% in 2024.<ref>{{cite news |title=China completes 3,000-km green belt around its biggest desert, state media says |url=https://www.yahoo.com/news/china-completes-3-000-km-112549261.html |access-date=8 December 2024 |agency=Yahoo |publisher=Reuters |date=29 November 2024}}</ref>

China has introduced the [[Green Wall of China]] project, which aims to halt the expansion of the [[Gobi Desert|Gobi desert]] through the planting of trees. There has been a 47-million-hectare increase in forest area in China since the 1970s.<ref name="Owen">James Owen, [https://web.archive.org/web/20170907212622/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/11/061113-forests.html "World's Forests Rebounding, Study Suggests"]. ''National Geographic News'', 13 November 2006.</ref> The total number of trees amounted to be about 35 billion and 4.55% of China's land mass increased in forest coverage. The forest coverage was 12% in the early 1980s and had reached 16.55% by 2001.<ref name="battling">Gittings, John (20 March 2001). [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/mar/20/worlddispatch.china "Battling China's Deforestation".] ''The Guardian''.</ref>

China announced two large reforestation programs, the Natural Forest Protection Program and the Returning Farmland to Forest program, in late 1998.<ref name=":122">{{Cite book |last=Harrell |first=Stevan |title=An Ecological History of Modern China |publisher=[[University of Washington Press]] |year=2023 |isbn=9780295751719 |location=Seattle}}</ref>{{Rp|page=183}} The programs were piloted in [[Sichuan]], [[Shaanxi]], and [[Gansu]] in 1999.<ref name=":122" />{{Rp|page=183}} They became widely implemented in 2000.<ref name=":122" />{{Rp|page=183}} The Natural Forest Protection Program called for major reductions in timber harvest, forest conservation, and instituted logging bans in most of Sichuan, [[Yunnan]], [[Guizhou]], and [[Tibet Autonomous Region|Tibet]].<ref name=":122" />{{Rp|page=183}} The program provided for alternative employment opportunities for former logging industry workers, including hiring them for reforestation work.<ref name=":122" />{{Rp|page=183}} The Returning Farmland to Forest program paid farmers to plant trees on less productive farmland and provided them with a yearly subsidy for lost income.<ref name=":122" />{{Rp|page=183}} In 2015 China announced a plan to plant 26 billion trees by the year 2025; that is, two trees for every Chinese citizen per year.<ref>{{cite web |title=China to plant 26 billion trees over next decade – People's Daily Online |url=http://en.people.cn/90882/7675458.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402103715/http://en.people.cn/90882/7675458.html |archive-date=2015-04-02 |access-date=2015-03-12}}</ref>

Between 2013 and 2018, China planted 338,000 square kilometres of forests, at a cost of $82.88 billion.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Breyer |first1=Melissa |date=January 11, 2018 |title=China is planting 16.3 million acres of forest this year |agency=Treehugger |url=https://www.treehugger.com/environmental-policy/china-planting-163-million-acres-forest-year.html |url-status=dead |access-date=7 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180907182908/https://www.treehugger.com/environmental-policy/china-planting-163-million-acres-forest-year.html |archive-date=7 September 2018}}</ref> By 2018, 21.7% of China's territory was covered by forests, a figure the government wants to increase to 26% by 2035. The total area of China is 9,596,961 square kilometres (see [[China]]), so 412,669 square kilometres more needs to be planted.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Chow |first1=Lorraine |title=China to Plant New Forests the Size of Ireland This Year |agency=Ecowatch |url=https://www.ecowatch.com/china-reforestation-project-2524893906.html?xrs=RebelMouse_fb&ts=1515797634 |access-date=7 September 2018}}</ref> According to the government's plan, by 2050, 30% of China's territory should be covered by forests.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Li |first1=Weida |title=China to increase forest coverage to 23 percent by 2020 |agency=GBTimes |url=https://gbtimes.com/china-to-increase-forest-coverage-to-23-percent-by-2020 |url-status=dead |access-date=26 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226184239/https://gbtimes.com/china-to-increase-forest-coverage-to-23-percent-by-2020 |archive-date=26 December 2018}}</ref>

In 2017, the [[Saihanba National Forest Park|Saihanba]] Afforestation Community won the UN [[Champions of the Earth]] Award in the Inspiration and Action category for their successful reforestation efforts,<ref>{{cite web |title=A story of human bravery and beauty lost and regained. |url=https://web.unep.org/championsofearth/laureates/2017/saihanba-afforestation-community |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190719202252/http://web.unep.org/championsofearth/laureates/2017/saihanba-afforestation-community |archive-date=2019-07-19 |access-date=2019-07-25 |publisher=Champions of the Earth}}</ref> which began upon discovering the survival of a single tree.<ref>{{cite web |title=China Focus: From a single tree to a forest – Saihanba's story |url=http://www.xinhuanet.com//english/2017-08/05/c_136502252.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190728234302/http://www.xinhuanet.com//english/2017-08/05/c_136502252.htm |archive-date=July 28, 2019 |access-date=2019-08-15 |publisher=Xinhuanet.com}}</ref>

From 2016 to 2021, 3976 square kilometers of forests were planted in the [[Tibet Autonomous Region]], with plans for 20 million trees to be planted before 2023.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date= |title=China directs efforts to protecting ecological environment |url=http://www.pyongyangtimes.com.kp/?bbs=37121 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220127235227/http://www.pyongyangtimes.com.kp/?bbs=37121 |archive-date=2022-01-27 |access-date=2021-01-30 |website=[[The Pyongyang Times]]}}</ref>

In the years 2012–2022 China restored more than {{convert|70|e6ha|km2}} of forests. China committed to plant and conserve 70 billion trees by the year 2030 as part of the [[Trillion Tree Campaign]].<ref name=":4">{{cite web |title=China will aim to plant and conserve 70 billion trees by 2030 as part of the global tree movement |url=https://www.weforum.org/press/2022/05/china-will-aim-to-plant-and-conserve-70-billion-trees-by-2030-as-part-of-the-global-tree-movement/ |access-date=3 June 2022 |website=World Economic Forum}}</ref>

The [[Jane Goodall Institute]] launched the Million Tree Project in Kulun Qi, [[Inner Mongolia]] to plant one million trees.<ref name="Shanghai Roots & Shoots">{{cite web |title=Shanghai Roots & Shoots – |url=http://www.jgi-shanghai.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170224030000/http://www.jgi-shanghai.org/ |archive-date=2017-02-24 |access-date=2019-10-01 |work=jgi-shanghai.org}}</ref><ref name="The Million Tree Project">{{cite web |title=Million Tree Project :: Home |url=http://www.mtpchina.org |work=mtpchina.org}}</ref> China used 24 million hectares of new forest to offset 21% of Chinese fossil fuel emissions in 2000.<ref name="Canadell" />{{rp|1456}}

The Chinese government requires [[Mining industry of China|mining companies]] to restore the environment around exhausted mines by refilling excavated pits and planting crops or trees.<ref name=":123">{{Cite book |last=Zhan |first=Jing Vivian |title=China's Contained Resource Curse: How Minerals Shape State-Capital-Labor Relations |date=2022 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-1-009-04898-9 |location=Cambridge, United Kingdom}}</ref>{{Rp|page=53}} Many mining companies use these recovered mines for [[ecotourism]] business.<ref name=":123" />{{Rp|pages=54-55}}

Launched in 1978 and scheduled to last until 2050, the Three Northern Protected Forest Development Program – informally known as the "[[Great Green Wall (China)|Great Green Wall]]" – aims to eventually plant nearly 90 million acres of new forest in a 2,800-mile stretch of northern China.<ref name=":12">{{cite web |last1=Luoma |first1=Jon |title=China's Reforestation Programs: Big Success or Just an Illusion? |url=https://e360.yale.edu/features/chinas_reforestation_programs_big_success_or_just_an_illusion |access-date=23 October 2022 |website=YaleEnvironment360 |publisher=the Yale School of the Environment}}</ref>

Over 69.3 million hectares of forest were planted across China from 1999 to 2013. This large-scale reforestation contributed to China’s forests sequestering 1.11 ± 0.38 Gt carbon per yr over the period 2010 to 2016. This amounted to about 45 percent of the yearly greenhouse gas emissions during that period in China.<ref name=":02">{{Cite journal |last1=Zhang |first1=Xianghua |last2=Busch |first2=Jonah |last3=Huang |first3=Yingli |last4=Fleskens |first4=Luuk |last5=Qin |first5=Huiyan |last6=Qiao |first6=Zhenhua |date=2023 |title=Cost of mitigating climate change through reforestation in China |journal=Frontiers in Forests and Global Change |volume=6 |bibcode=2023FrFGC...629216Z |doi=10.3389/ffgc.2023.1229216 |issn=2624-893X |doi-access=free}}</ref>