On December 15, the Information Office, People’s Government of Guangdong Province held a press conference announcing that Guangdong will establish a five-level(provincial, city, county, town, and village) forest chief scheme by the end of this year. At present, the "Implementation Opinions Regarding the Implementation of the Forest Chief Scheme" has been issued.

Aerial photo of Nanling National Forest Park. (Photo: Nanfang Daily)

Guangdong is the first province to set up the "Double Forest Chiefs Scheme" in China. Chen Junguang, director of the Guangdong Provincial Forestry Bureau, indicated that “The full implementation of the forest chief system will protect forests better and keep Guangdong's ecosystem at the forefront of China.”

It is worth mentioning that, as a pilot city of forest chief scheme, west Guangdong’s Meizhou has achieved excellent results and shared its experience at the press conference. There are now 8,639 forest heads in Meizhou and they have managed all the forests in Meizhou in the past year. At present, the high-quality forest in Meizhou has reached 1,120 km², and the large-diameter timber cultivation base has reached 178 km². “We value the long-term development of the forestry economy. At present, Meizhou is trying to let the forest chief and the sheriff manage the forest together, transcend government sectors to protect the forest ” Zeng Yongxiang, the deputy mayor of Meizhou City, shared his experience.

Aerial photo of Nan'ao, which is the street with the highest forest coverage in Shenzhen.(Photo: Nanfang Daily)

Based on the experience of Meizhou, Guangdong has delineated 6 ecological regions, Dinghu Mountain, Nanling, Yinna Mountain, Luofu Mountain, Lianhua Mountain, and Yunkai Mountain as the responsibility areas of the provincial forest chiefs. These 6 regions are connected with the 6 basins of Xijiang, Beijiang, Hanjiang, Dongjiang, Rongjiang, and Jianjiang in Guangdong.

Currently, 13 cities are implementing the forest chief scheme, with a total of 31,451 forest chiefs, 31972 forest guards, and 14,038 supervisors. "Guangdong also plans to build 100 public-interest parks to improve the ecosystems of key ecological regions in various cities," said Chen Junguang. “In the future, we will also build a distinctive forest city construction system, the Pearl River Delta national forest city cluster and coastal national forest city protection belts.”

Author | Alice

Editor | Keane, Steven, Jerry