China mulls enshrining tree planting day in law

BEIJING - China is mulling enshrining its National Tree Planting Day in law to better protect the country's forests and give an extra push to its continuous pursuit of green development.

The proposal was made in a draft revision to the forest law, which was submitted Monday for a third reading at the ongoing bimonthly session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature.

March 12 was designated as China's National Tree Planting Day by an NPC Standing Committee resolution in 1979.

The country's forest coverage rate has increased by nearly 10 percentage points since the late 1970s.

In 2018, China planted 7.07 million hectares of trees, and the country is home to the world's largest man-made forest in scale.

Aside from the inclusion of the annually celebrated day, the draft also proposes enhanced publicity and education efforts on forest protection.

Governments at all levels should strengthen their publicity and education work on the protection of forest resources. Media organizations, forestry enterprises and public institutions and volunteers are also encouraged to join the efforts, according to the draft.

Hu Keming, vice chairman of the NPC Constitution and Law Committee, briefed lawmakers on the draft at the first plenary meeting of the session on Monday.

Some national lawmakers and experts, as well as representatives from industry associations, state-run tree farms, forestry enterprises and other relevant parties, have acknowledged the necessity of a revision and the feasibility of the draft when invited to evaluate the draft earlier this month, Hu said.

On behalf of his committee, Hu suggested the draft be passed at the session.

Lawmakers deliberated the draft in panel discussions Monday afternoon.

The forest law was promulgated in 1984 and amended in 1998 and 2009.