Changsha won its fourth national award for outstanding contributions to land greening after being honored as the National Forest City, National Garden City and National Model Greening City.
The city started to mull over a scientific plan for rural and urban greening with priority to ecological protection, when given approval to carry out national reform and experimentation program in 2007.
The municipal government formulated a policy where 2% of the total investments from all new, expansion and reconstruction projects were earmarked for greening sector. This move guaranteed adequate finances for the program.
In recent five years, a total of 12 billion yuan have been used for the purpose.
The significant progress in implementing this greening plan has created extraordinary ecological advantages for the city's social and economic development.
The green city's forest coverage exceeds 53% with the green coverage rate of urban districts hitting 42%. Local residents have realized their dream of living in enchanting houses surrounded by greenery.
Chinese source： hn.xinhuanet.com