Hechi bolsters green development over past 10 years

A flock of egrets flies over the Hongshui River in Tian'e county. [Photo/Hechi Daily]

Over the past 10 years, Hechi has adhered to the concept of "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets," as well as implemented the river chief system and forest chief system, achieving good results in its green development efforts.

On the evening of July 25, a group of egrets were seen at Pohao Lake near the Hongshui River in Donglan county. Egret is a national second-class protected animal, and have high requirements for the atmosphere and water quality they are attracted to. The appearance of the egrets exemplifies the good ecological environment of Hechi.

Recently, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment announced the results of the national surface water environmental quality assessments in the first half of this year, with the water environment quality index of the surface water assessment section in Hechi ranking seventh in the country.

In 2012, Hechi shut down 96 non-ferrous metal enterprises, starting the protection of the Longjiang River, the Hongshui River, and other rivers.

Hechi establishes the river chief system to protect the river environment. Since August 2017, the city has clarified that there were 15 city level, 164 county level, 2,796 town level, and 3,482 village level river chiefs for major rivers like the Hongshui River and the Longjiang River.

Hechi is located in a contiguous area of rocky desertification. In the past, soil erosion was serious, resulting in nearly 40 percent of the exposed rocky mountain area. As one of the first pilot cities of the forest chief system in Guangxi, Hechi has set up 2,345 forest chiefs at all levels since 2018.

In 2021, the city planted 332,300 mu (22,153 hectares) of trees. Hechi is developing the forestry industry by relying on its unique forest resource advantages, with the city's forest coverage rate being 71.54 percent. By the end of 2021, the city's total forestry output value was 28 billion yuan ($4 billion), of which the total output value of the under-forest economy was 9.41 billion yuan.