Five years’ efforts in forestry drives ecological development of Jilin

Jilin province in NE China is abundant in forest resources and home to many wild animals.

It is now enjoying fast ecological development that can be attributed to its efforts in developing forestry from three aspects over the past five years.

The first is ecological remediation.

Jilin has pushed forward a series of programs such as the construction of green transformation areas in the east of the province, ecological economic areas in the west and ecological protective areas in the middle.

Since 2013, Jilin has recovered 16,000 hectares of desertificated land and recharged some important wetlands through its ecological water preservation project in the western area.

In the eastern area, the province has launched remediation projects to improve the ecological environment of Changbai Mountain.

In the middle area, Jilin has rebuilt protective farmland forests.

The second is ecological protection.

Jilin has banned commercial cutting of forests, returned developed forests into their original condition and taken measures in forest fire prevention and wild animal protection.

Commercial cutting of state-owned forests has been completely banned in the province, creating opportunities in forest ecological service with an estimated value of 200 billion yuan($30.40 billion).

Its measures in forest fire prevention have made Jilin the only province not to have had amajor forest fire for 36 consecutive years.

With the province's efforts to control hunting and the establishment of nature reservesthe population of wild animals has significantly increased.

The third is developing forestry in a green way.

Jilin has found new forest industry growth drivers such as tourismand e-commerce related to forests, which together have created the fastest growth in the forestry industry in the province’s history.

Jilin also channels energy into building smart forestry with advanced modern management.

It is the first province to own an exclusive forestry satellite and is launching an Internet-based forestry and ecological protection network with some enterprises.

As part of its overall planning, in September, 2016, the Jilin Government signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the State Forestry Administration of China.