Major moves for environmental protection last year
On Jan 17, the national conference on natural resources is held in Beijing. During the conference, the Ministry of Natural Resources announces several major tasks for the year. They include conducting a national survey of resources, improving the management of natural resources and formulating a territorial spatial-planning system to integrate the plans for functional zoning, land use, urban and rural areas and others into a unified entity.
On March 7, the first anniversary of The Coalition to End Wildlife Trafficking, a report shows that about 1 million illegal products online have been deleted, with more than 10 million online illegal advertisements blocked and 350,000 illegal online accounts removed.
On March 12, National Tree Planting Day, an official from the National Forestry and Grassland Administration announces that China's forest coverage rate has risen by nearly 10 percentage points in the past four decades, with the world's largest planted forests and an 80 percent expansion of forested areas.