North China sees significant improvement in vegetation coverage

The ecological quality of China's vegetation has risen dramatically and hit a record high last year from 2000, according to the Bulletin of National Ecological Meteorology 2018.

The bulletin was released by the China Meteorological Administration at a news conference on Tuesday.

It stated that the country has significantly improved its capabilities in windbreak and sand fixation with more vegetation coverage in North China.

It showed areas that are extremely likely to have fine dust have decreased from 48.1 percent in 2000 to 40.4 percent last year.

On the other hand, areas with light fine dust or are dust-free have increased from 30.3 percent in 2000 to 38.8 percent last year.

Qian Shuan, chief scientist of agricultural meteorology from the National Meteorological Center under the administration, said that the improvements were due to a continuous ecological protection project by the central government and an increase in rainfall.

"Last year, North and West China that were affected by the drought for years have seen a significant increase in rainfall and heat waves," she said. "Grasslands, forests and crops have benefited a lot."