The government of Tongzhou district recently released the "Master Plan for Developing a National Forest City in Tongzhou (2018-2035)." It marked the launch of the district's project to develop into a National Forest City, a designation by China's National Forestry and Grassland Administration to recognize a region's merits in green coverage.

The plan sets out 40 targets in five major aspects, covering the district's urban forest network, urban forest health, urban forestry economy, urban ecological culture and urban forest management.

It also maps out the work zones of "one center, one ring, two belts and two zones" in the district and specifies priorities in the agenda, highlighting various key projects such as the forest-in-city project, the forest ecological corridor project, the forest leisure project, the urban greenway network project, and the ecological culture protection and dissemination project.

The National Forestry and Grassland Administration defines a National Forest City as an urban area with a stable and healthy forest ecosystem, with forests and trees as the mainstay within the designated area. This would contribute to measurable benefits for the physical and mental health of the urban residents, with relevant indicators that are up to the prescribed standards.

At present, a number of green parks have been established in Tongzhou, such as Dongjiao Forest Park, Songzhuang Park and Grand Canal Forest Park. After campaigns of shantytown renovation and environmental improvement as well as construction of small green belts, Tongzhou has managed to increase the district's green coverage rate to 34.65 percent, with the per capita park green area measuring at 10.29 square meters.

Liu Chang, head of the National Forest City Leading Group Office in Tongzhou, said that in order to promote the National Forest City development in Tongzhou, the district government established a leading group composed of leaders of gardening and landscaping, water affairs, transportation, urban construction, tourism, land and environmental protection.

The leading group has set a timetable, aiming to increase the forest coverage rate in Tongzhou to 33 percent, the green coverage in urban areas to 50 percent, and park green area per capita to 18 square meters by 2020. By then, the indicators for a National Forest City can be met and the city's ecological service functions will be much improved.

In the master plan's zone layout of "one center, one ring, two belts and two zones," the "one center" refers to a 150-hectare park in the district's center to be constructed. The park and the surrounding green areas would increase the district's green coverage rate to 50 percent.

The "one ring" refers to a 200-to-1,000-meter-wide green belt for recreation to be constructed around Tongzhou, the sub-center of Beijing.

The "two belts" refer to a 500-to-1,000-meter-wide ecological green belt to be constructed between Tongzhou and Chaoyang districts, and an ecological development zone with a width of no less than 3,000 meters between Tongzhou and the northern three counties of Langfang, Hebei province.

The "two zones" refer to the two ecological corridor control areas — one between Tongzhou and Yizhuang, and the other between Tongzhou and Shunyi.

"The purpose of building a forest city in the sub-center of Beijing is to create an urban oasis that serves as the 'green lung,'" Liu said. "Meanwhile, a number of multifunctional and distinctive parks will be built around the densely populated areas of the old town. The dispersal areas, marginal land, abandoned land and idle land will be better exploited to build urban gardens and micro-parks."

Liu said Tongzhou will follow up the afforestation efforts by building large-scale tourism complex projects represented by the Grand Canal Cultural Scenic Area, the Songzhuang Original Art Tourism Zone, and the Beijing Global Theme Park Supporting Area.

In addition, wetland parks, forest parks and other ecological leisure places will also be constructed to enhance tourist services and reception facilities so as to meet the public demand for leisure and fitness activities.

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