Since the implementation of the afforestation project of the southern and northern mountains of Lhasa in 2022, nearly 700,000 mu (about 467 square kilometers) of forest has been built and 114 million seedlings of various types have been planted, according to a meeting recently held in Xizang Autonomous Region.

The overall survival rate of the afforestation project is around 85%, with some areas exceeding 90%. The native shrubs are growing well, and the trees and grasses have significantly increased, making the greening area along the important transportation routes substantially grow. The forest-encircled city is gradually taking shape.

So far, 65 guaranteed sablings covering an area of over 40,000 mu (about 27square kilometers) have been planted. 90 million seedlings such as walnut trees, hippophae trees, elm trees and so on have been stocked, which can fully meet the afforestation needs for 2025. In addition, the shortage of native tree species has been solved in Lhasa, Shannan, Xigaze, and Nyingchi.

With the support of open and policy-based financial policies, Xizang has provided special subsidies in electricity usage, bank loans, and insurance. Electricity used for forestry and irrigation is charged of 0.2 yuan per kilowatt-hour, with an additional subsidy of 0.1 yuan per kilowatt-hour, saving enterprises 50% of their electricity costs.The loan interest rate in Xizang is 2% lower than other places of China. Financial institutions have cumulatively issued loans totaling 2.632 billion yuan to forestry enterprises. Governments at all levels in Xizang have continuously improved the investment mechanism for the southern and northern mountains, and included the afforestation project in the annual budgets with a cumulatively investment of 4.697 billion yuan.

It has engaged 7.2 million person-times of farmers and herdsmenin the project since its implementation, and it has driven an increase in people's income by more than 2.5 billion yuan. An online donation platform named "I Have a Tree in Xizang" has been established to absorb social funds for the project. 73 enterprises have participated in contracting afforestation of more than 230,000 mu (about 153 square kilometers), leveraging approximately 2 billion yuan in social funds.

Reporter: Zhao Lang

Translator: Peng Qing, Zhi Xinghua

Review: Hu Rongguo, Dong Xiuli