The Daming Lake in Jinan, capital of Shandong province [Photo/IC]

The province of Shandong in East China has made significant progress in environmental conservation and boosting green development, according to local officials.

According to the Shandong Provincial Department of Natural Resources, the per capita green area in the province now stands at 17.31 square meters, the green coverage rate of urban built-up areas is 41.48 percent, and the green land rate is 37.26 percent.

The province is home to 17 national forest cities, 60 national garden cities, 15 provincial-level forest cities, 158 forest towns, and 1,530 forest villages. It has the most national forest cities and national garden cities in China.

The province has made strong efforts to promote afforestation and has taken comprehensive steps to reduce soil erosion, strengthen wetland conservation and restoration, and better prevent and control geological disasters.

Shandong was the third province in the country to implement the forest chief scheme as part of its continuous efforts to protect forests and grasslands, with more than 110,000 forest chiefs being established in cities, counties, towns, and villages in the province.

The province has adopted a holistic approach to conserving local mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, and grasslands, said local officials.

Last year, the province afforested about 66,667 hectares of land.

Shandong has also continued to make progress in the preservation of its wetlands in recent years. It now has a total of 1.74 million hectares of wetland.

In the past few years, the province has also launched a slew of measures to protect its wetlands, improve water quality, and promote environmental protection.

By the end of 2020, the province had 66 national wetland parks, ranking second in the country. It is also home to 134 provincial-level wetland parks and 155 wetland protection communities.