The city of Songyuan in Northeast China's Jilin province recently issued a forest chief scheme to specify government responsibilities and improve the ecosystem functions of forests and prairies.

The scheme prioritizes ecological protection and green development, and states that Songyuan will step up efforts in ecological protection, restoration, and supervision of forest and prairie resources, deepen reforms on forest and prairie management practices, and improve the governance system and capacity.

A long-term management, evaluation and supervision system will be established to cover all aspects relating to forest and prairie resource protection.

The scheme also states that by the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period, the city's forest coverage should reach 11.5 percent, the vegetation coverage of grasslands should reach 70.5 percent, the effective protection rate of natural wetlands should reach 37.5 percent, the occurrence of calamities such as forest fires and pests should not exceed the limit specified in the scheme.

By the end of 2035, a sound, stable and efficient ecosystem including forests, prairies and wetlands is expected to be formed to protect natural resources.