Sanya makes great efforts in forest city construction

Sanya River is surrounded by green trees on both sides. [Photo/Sanya Daily]

In recent years, Sanya has made great efforts in its construction of a forest city.  

Currently, all 16 indicators on Sanya's application for being designated a provincial forest city have met the standard, of which 13 indicators, including forest coverage and per capita public green space, have met the national standard.

From 2019 to 2021, Hainan province assigned an afforestation task to Sanya of 320 hectares, with the city boasting an actual completion rate of 122 percent. Through the renovation and improvement of park green spaces, the greening transformation of a traffic island, as well as the construction of corridor greening projects and other projects, Sanya has improved its forestation rate. The greening coverage rate of Sanya's urbanization area is now 42.32 percent, while the street greening rate in the urbanization area is 94.34 percent.

The greening rate along Sanya's high ways and railways is now 100 percent, while the greening rate along the city's rivers and reservoirs is 96.91 percent.

There are 61 parks and green spaces in the city's urbanization area, with the per capita public green space area being 16.25 square meters. In Sanya, there are over 10 large parks and green spaces spanning more than five hectares. Various parks and green spaces spread across the city provide convenient leisure and entertainment sites for residents. For most of Sanya's residents, they are only 500 meters away from a green space for leisure.

Mangrove forests are an important part of Sanya's coastal defense forest and also one of its characteristic landscapes. In recent years, 80.53 hectares of mangrove forest were planted in Tielu Port and Qingmei Port Mangrove Nature Reserves to safeguard its coastal line. In Tielu Port Mangrove Nature Reserve, the only nine wild red olive plum plants in the world are blossoming.

The construction of a forest city has also provided opportunities for villages in Sanya to develop their under-forest economy and suburban tourism. A total of 51 villages in Sanya are currently undergoing the construction of  "beautiful villages" to promote rural vitalization, with nine villages in Sanya selected as National Forest Villages.

Through the construction of a forest city, Sanya's forest environment continues to improve. In 2021, the air quality rate in Sanya was 100 percent. The average air negative oxygen ion concentration in Sanya was 1,538 per cubic meter, more than double the standard value.