North China's Shanxi province afforested more than 2,486 square kilometers of area from January to the end of May, according to a press conference recently held by the Information Office of the Shanxi Provincial Government. 

According to the authority's plan, Shanxi will complete 3,600 sq km of afforestation this year, more than any other province in China.

"In recent years, Shanxi has accelerated land greening, focusing on improving forest quality and strengthening the protection and restoration of forests, grassland and wetland ecosystems," said Zhao Shuiqing, head of the Shanxi Forestry and Grassland Engineering Station. 

At the end of 2020, the province's forest area reached 36,952.87 sq km, with the forest coverage rate amounting to 23.57 percent.

This year, Shanxi will strengthen the management and protection of unformed forests, scientifically transform shrublands, increase afforestation efforts in sparse woodlands, and build a healthy and stable forest ecosystem. 

It will strengthen natural secondary forests, improve low-efficiency secondary forests, and restore degraded artificial forests while breeding and promoting rare native tree species, sorting out and cultivating tree species with low water consumption and high carbon sequestration capacity.