China carries out nearly 8.5m hectares of land greening in 2025

China completed about 8.47 million hectares of land greening in 2025, according to a media release from the National Forestry and Grassland Administration.

This included afforestation on nearly 3.6 million hectares, with the rest achieved through the restoration of degraded grasslands, the release said on Thursday as the administration's annual work conference continues.

To date, the country's forest coverage rate has increased to 25.09 percent, and its forest stock volume has reached almost 21 billion cubic meters, it revealed.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), China accomplished a total of 36.6 million hectares of land greening, including 12.3 million hectares of afforestation, according to the administration. During this time, an average of almost 3.1 million hectares of degraded grassland were restored annually. The consistent efforts in restoring degraded grassland have helped maintain the comprehensive vegetation coverage of grasslands above 50 percent.

The release especially highlighted remarkable progress in desertification control. Over the past five years, the country managed to treat roughly 10.1 million hectares of desertified land and also close off almost 1.9 million hectares of such land to prevent deterioration, it stated.

"China has witnessed continuous declines in its areas of land affected by desertification and sandification, making the country a global pioneer in achieving zero net growth in land degradation," it said.