Recently, the reporter learned from the official website of forestry and grassland that the construction plan for major ecological protection and restoration projects in the northern sand belt (2021-2035) (hereinafter referred to as the plan) jointly issued by the forestry and grassland Bureau, the development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of natural resources and the Ministry of water resources was recently announced.

The plan is prepared according to the requirements of the master plan for major projects of national important ecosystem protection and restoration (2021-2035) (hereinafter referred to as the "dual" plan). The base year of the plan is 2020, and the planning period is 2021-2035, including 2021-2025 in the short term and 2026-2035 in the medium and long term.

It is understood that the plan focuses on promoting the implementation of the "dual" plan, with the goal of improving the stability and service function of the natural ecosystem in the northern sand prevention zone, based on the assessment of the carrying capacity of resources and environment and the suitability of land and space development, and focusing on the important ecological protection areas (including the important and vulnerable areas with ecosystem service functions) and the areas with prominent ecological problems, The implementation scope of the plan has been determined by comprehensive consideration of factors such as ecosystem integrity and geographical unit continuity.

The main implementation scope covers 181 counties (cities, districts and banners) in 9 provinces (regions and cities) including Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Gansu and Xinjiang, as well as 99 regiments under the Xinjiang production and Construction Corps (hereinafter referred to as the "corps"), with a total area of 1.83 million square kilometers.

Based on the overall study of the ecological conditions of the northern sand prevention zone and the major ecological problems in various regions, the plan scientifically laid out 6 key projects and 29 key projects, put forward the main ideas and key measures to promote the integrated protection and restoration of natural ecosystems, preliminarily estimated the relevant quantities, and defined the relevant supporting policies.

According to the plan, the short-term goal is to complete 4.6 million hectares of desertified land, 2.7 million hectares of degraded grassland, and 2.2 million hectares of forest by 2025 by promoting the implementation of a number of key projects, and comprehensively promoting the construction of the three North Shelterbelt System, natural forest protection, grassland protection and restoration, sand prevention and control, protection and restoration of rivers, lakes and wetlands, comprehensive treatment of water and soil loss, and ecological restoration of mines, 4.5 million hectares of water and soil loss were controlled. The regional forest coverage rate reached about 14.9%, the forest stock volume reached 580 million cubic meters, and the comprehensive grassland vegetation coverage reached about 43.9%. The construction mechanism and supporting policy system for major projects are basically complete, and obvious phased results have been achieved in ecological protection and restoration. The quality of important ecosystems such as deserts, grasslands, forests, rivers, lakes and wetlands has been improved, the stability of natural ecosystems has been gradually enhanced, and the ecological security barrier and ecological service function have been further improved.

By 2035, various key projects will be implemented, including 13.8 million hectares of desertified land, 7.4 million hectares of degraded grassland, 6.1 million hectares of forest, and 11.2 million hectares of soil erosion. The regional forest coverage rate reached about 15.5%, the forest stock volume reached 740 million cubic meters, the grassland comprehensive vegetation coverage reached about 45.9%, and the area of natural forests and natural wetlands did not decrease.