The contribution China's forestation campaign has made to efforts to slow down global warming in the past two decades demonstrates that reducing green house emissions is not the only option available in the fight against climate change.

Volunteers have planted 49.2 billion trees in the past 26 years, and the total amount of area covered by artificial forests has reached 54 million hectares, which is more than in any other countries in the world.

Meanwhile, the establishment of more than 2,300 nature reserves has preserved the country's natural forests as well. The total area of land covered by forests has reached 175 million hectares, representing 18.2 percent of the country's territory.

These trees absorbed some 500 million tons of carbon dioxide in 2004, 8 percent of the total amount released.

These figures show that planting trees and preserving forests are important parts of efforts to slow down and finally reverse global warming. This is in addition to reductions of greenhouse emissions.

As the world's most populous nation, and with its rapidly growing economy, China is very cautious when it comes to how wood is used. China's imports of large quantities of waste paper from overseas every year are an example of how the country contributes to the preservation of wood. It is said that by importing waste paper the country has saved 54 million tons of wood in recent years.

China knows where its responsibility lies when it comes to controlling global warming. Its ambitious goal to increase the annual rate of the expansion of forests from the current 500 million cubic meters to 1 billion cubic meters in the next 30 to 50 years.

Faced with the ever-increasing threat of various natural disasters caused by global warming, countries in different parts of the world need to compare notes about forestation, preservation of forests and efforts to save wood, giving the world a pool of knowledge about the various efforts that have been taken to slow down and finally reverse global warming.

China hopes that its achievements will inspire other countries around the world to take similar steps. It is hoped that forestation and the preservation of forests worldwide will contribute even more to global efforts to halt climate change.

(China Daily 07/18/2007 page10)