Massive reforestation. To cover 23% of landmass, in 5 years 83.5 million acres of forest planted across China

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The pollution-beleaguered country plans to increase forest coverage to 23 percent of its total landmass by the end of the decade.
Outdoor air pollution contributes to the deaths of an estimated 1.6 million people in China annually (that's 4,400 people a day). Meanwhile, less than 20 percent of the water from underground wells used by farms, factories and homes is fit for drinking or bathing thanks to industrial and agricultural contamination. But with the recent news that the country will no longer be the world's dumping ground for plastic waste, and other ambitious green initiatives - nixing new coal-fired power plants, investing in renewable energy, et cetera - China is showing the world that it is changing its ways.

The latest chapter is a massive reforestation plan, as reported by David Stanway at Reuters, in which the country plans to plant 6.6 million hectares of forest by the end of the year. One hectare is equal to 2.47 acres, meaning that the country will be getting 16.3 million acres of trees. Stanway writes:
“Planting trees has become a key part of China's efforts to improve its environment and tackle climate change, and the government has pledged to raise total coverage from 21.7 percent to 23 percent over the 2016-2020 period, said the China Daily, citing the country's top forestry official.”

China to create new forests covering area size of Ireland: China Daily
Zhang Jianlong, head of the State Forestry Administration, said at a meeting on Thursday that China would aim to grow at least 6.66 million hectares of new forest this year.

He said 33.8 million hectares of forest had been planted nationwide over the last five years, with a total investment of more than 538 billion yuan ($82.88 billion), bringing the country’s total forest area to 208 million hectares.

Three new state forests with a total area of 483,000 hectares would also be built in the new Xiongan development zone in Hebei province, he said.

The heavily polluted Hebei, which surrounds the capital Beijing, has also pledged to raise total forest coverage to 35 percent by the end of 2020.

China, which has to feed a quarter of the global population using just 7 percent of the world’s arable land, has long struggled to strike a balance between industrial growth, maximizing food production and protecting its environment.

Trees are awesome: Study shows tree leaves can capture 50%+ of particulate matter pollution
Nature's high-tech air scrubbers
Breathing is not optional, so air pollution matters. Recent studies by the World Health Organization (WHO) have shown that air pollution kills more people than AIDS and malaria combined and causes cancer.

We always knew that trees are good air filters, but it's been hard to quantify just how much. One new study from Lancaster University, in the U.K., tried to do so. What they found is quite interesting, and one more reason to hug a tree today!

"...the team placed a screen of 30 young silver birch trees in wooden planters in front of four of the houses, including one of the control houses, for 13 days. Wipes from all eight houses showed that ones with the tree screens had 52 to 65% lower concentrations of metallic particles. A comparison of all of the dust monitoring data from the two original control houses confirmed that drop, showing a 50% reduction in PM1, PM2.5, and PM10 in the house with the trees in front."

A new study shows that koalas cuddle trees to keep cool

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Image credits: Public Domain Maxpixel and CC BY-SA 2.0 Wikimedia