BEIJING -- More than 10,000 people in eight Chinese cities celebrated the launching of the country's first "Green China Day" by planting 5,000 trees on Sunday in respective cities.

President Hu Jintao (C) shovels soil to a tree at the Beijing Olympic Forest Park to mark the capital's 23rd tree-planting day as well the launching of the country's first "Green China Day on Sunday, April 1, 2007. Each year, the leaders take part in the national tree-planting campaign to make the country greener. [Xinhua]

The "Green China Day" was launched in accordance with a proposal jointly raised by 18 members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference at its annual session held last March to legalize mass participation in environmental protection.

Eight cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Nanchang, Shenzhen, Zhengzhou, Xi'an and Fuzhou, were chosen as pilots for building commemorative forests on the "Green China Day" initiated by the China Society for Promoting Environmental and Cultural Development.

Pan Yue, deputy director of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), urged the public to do more to protect the environment at Sunday's meeting attended by 1,000 participants in Beijing.

"Tree planting is not enough for environmental protection," said Pan.

Last year, the government issued a regulation on public participation in environmental protection evaluation, under which public representatives are invited to hearings on environmental protection programs that might affect the public interest. Their opinions are considered by the government for the environmental protection program.

On Sunday, Senior Chinese leaders including President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao joined 2 million people in planting trees in Beijing.

A government policy on tree planting in 1981 stated Chinese citizens aged 11 to 55 were required to plant three to five trees every year to increase China's forest coverage.

In 2006, only 55 percent of people planted trees, statistics from State Forestry Administration (SFA) show.

China's forest area reached 175 million hectares last year, raising the country's forest coverage to 18.21 percent, compared with 12 percent in 1981. Nevertheless, China's forest coverage is only 61.5 percent of the international average and its per capita forest area only 25 percent.

Due to deforestation and land degradation, sandstorms fed by the deserts of Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia blow toward Beijing and the eastern coastal areas each spring.