Harbin, the capital city of China’s northernmost Heilongjiang province, will carry out afforestation and greening actions focused on improving the quality of forestry ecological construction during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), according to information from Harbin’s municipal forestry and grassland bureau.

In the coming five years, Harbin will implement the construction of the Northeast China shelterbelt, forestry village construction projects and grassland ecological restoration work. The city will also commence a new round of farmland-to-forest reclamation projects.

The city will strive to ensure that one-third of its administrative villages meet the forestry construction standards. It will also make sure that one or two districts and counties meet the “national forest city” qualification.

By 2025, Harbin plans to develop 1.05 million mu (70,000 hectares) of shelter forests and 206,600 mu of artificial afforestation.

Degraded forests covering 86,200 mu will be restored, and grassland areas covering 197,600 mu will be treated and restored.

The city’s forest accumulation will increase by 9 million cubic meters to reach 11.11 million cu m.

The city-owned forest area will remain at 920,000 hectares, and the forest coverage rate will remain stable at 46 percent or more.

Currently, the city's tree-planting and afforestation activities are in the preparatory stage.

In 2021, a total of 37,900 hectares of artificial afforestation will be completed, and 16,600 hectares of degraded forests and 36,900 hectares of grassland areas will be restored.