China assigns 60,000 soldiers to plant trees for combating air pollution

Like many other countries, China has long been a target of air pollution and during the past few years, the country has done many efforts to combat it. This time, China is assigning soldiers to plant trees over a huge area of land.

China has come up with a new plan to cut down the problem of air pollution and that is by planting trees. These will not be just a few number of trees but instead they would be planted over an area of 84,000 square kilometers, roughly the size of Ireland, out of the almost 208 million hectares the country has allocated for forested area.

The country aims to raise its total forest coverage from 21% to 23% by 2020. In order to handle the task, the country handed the job to approximately 60,000 soldiers, as per Asia Times. Large troops from the People’s Liberation Army, along with the nation’s armed police force, have been withdrawn from their jobs on the northern border for the tree planting project.

Head of China’s State Forestry Administration Zhang Jianlong believes that China’s entire forest coverage could reach as high as 26% within two decades.

A large number of the troops are being sent to the province of Hebei, which is heavily polluted and is one of the biggest contributors to the country’s smog issues. The province guaranteed to increase its forest coverage to 35% by 2020.

China has been continuously making efforts to reduce emissions and enhance the air quality. Back in 2017, the country ordered to shut down 40% of its factories and also announced its plans to ban diesel-powered cars, as Futurism reports.