China Advances Three-North Project to Fortify Ecological Security and Boost Sustainable Development

This year’s Government Work Report proposes solidly advancing the Three-North Project battle, striving to make the mountains greener and waters clearer around people’s lives. A deputy to the National People’s Congress, who is also the founder and chief R&D director of Mengcao Ecological Environment (Group) Co., Ltd., noted that comprehensively promoting the construction of the Three-North Project is of great significance for advancing the integrated protection and systematic governance of mountains, rivers, forests, farmland, lakes, grasslands and deserts, as well as consolidating the national ecological security barrier.

"The Three-North Project area is not only an important ecological security barrier in China, but also a key carrier connecting the production and living of pastoral areas and herdsmen," he stated. He emphasized the need to promote industrial upgrading and long-term development in the Three-North Project area, putting forward a proposal to layout a forage industry belt and improve the forage industrial chain within the project area. For instance, he suggested setting up million-mu-level domestic forage seed breeding bases in key regions and encouraging forage seed enterprises to participate in their layout and operation.

Building on the Three-North Project construction, he further proposed increasing land supply through ecological restoration to meet the land demand for forage planting. In areas with suitable conditions, he advised increasing the proportion of edible forage, developing drought-tolerant forage varieties, and promoting large-scale, contiguous forage development through large-scale ecological restoration effects to boost forage supply. Additionally, he advocated popularizing the integration of forage and livestock to realize on-site conversion of forage and improve efficiency.

As the Three-North Project has gradually entered the follow-up maintenance period, he stressed the importance of maintaining existing achievements and avoiding the problem of "only planting without maintenance", while further improving quality and efficiency on the existing basis. To achieve this, he suggested setting up ecological monitoring and management centers in important ecological functional areas and establishing professional long-term service teams to provide monitoring, maintenance, reseeding and replanting services, safeguarding the quality improvement and efficiency enhancement of the Three-North Project.

With decades of unremitting efforts, the Three-North Project has achieved remarkable ecological achievements, contributing significantly to desertification control and ecological improvement. As China presses ahead with the project’s battle, the proposed measures are expected to further consolidate ecological progress, promote coordinated development of ecology and industry, and bring more tangible benefits to people in the project area.