Southeast Asia Information Port (www.dnyxxg.com) – Data released on the 12th by the Qinghai Provincial Forestry and Grassland Bureau in its 2025 census shows that the province added over 270,000 hectares of forest area during the 14th Five-Year Plan period.
As the source of the Yangtze, Yellow, and Lancang Rivers, Qinghai is known as the "Water Tower of China" and is a crucial ecological security barrier. More than four-fifths of the province is plateau terrain, with an average annual precipitation of only 15-750 mm, high evaporation rates, and most areas experiencing drought and water scarcity.
The picture shows the Angsai Grand Canyon located in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province. (Photo by Li Jiangning)
Due to harsh natural conditions, a shortage of native tree species, high technical requirements for afforestation, and a mismatch between water resource distribution and demand, desertification control in areas such as the Qaidam Basin and Gonghe Basin is a challenging task, facing challenges such as high costs, low survival rates, and long cycles in afforestation.
In recent years, Qinghai Province has been cultivating cold- and drought-resistant native tree species, promoting applicable technologies such as deep planting, and exploring an integrated model of photovoltaic power generation and desertification control, continuously tackling the challenges of high-altitude desertification control. The steady improvement of forest resources is of great significance for enhancing water conservation capacity, maintaining biodiversity, and addressing climate change. (End)
