China will grow 36,000 square kilometers of new forests annually, more than Belgium’s total area, from this year until 2025, as part of an effort to combat climate change and conserve natural habitats, a senior forest official said yesterday.

As part of plans to completely eliminate carbon emissions by 2060, tree planting is at the center of Beijing’s decades-long environmental effort.

Li Sunliang, deputy chairman of the Forest and Limitation Commission, told a news conference that the “landscape” projects would plant 36,000 square kilometers of trees annually by 2025.

“By 2035, there will be overall improvements in the quality and sustainability of forest, grassland, wetland and desert ecosystems,” Lee added.

According to a recently released five-year forest and grassland plan, China aims to increase its forest cover to 24.1 percent by the end of 2025 from 23.04 percent at the end of last year.

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