Greater Beijing area to have world-class cluster of national parks by 2020

Photo taken on April 14, 2014, shows Beijing,Tianjin and Hebei province in map. [Photo/IC]

A world-class cluster of national parks encircling Beijing, constituting an ecological system of national parks and forest wetlands will be built in Beijing, Tianjin and North China's Hebei province by 2020, The Beijing News reported on Wednesday.

Beijing Municipal Bureau of Landscape and Forestry explained the world-class ecological system as the future of ecological and environmental construction in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province. It aims at environmental protection, one of the major tasks of the collaborative development in the three areas.

The national parks encircling Beijing will initially integrate the existing natural reserves, scenic spots and forest parks in the three districts.

For example, the Wuling Mountain area will be incorporated into a national park based on a national-level Wuling Mountain nature reserve in Hebei province and a municipal-level Wuling Mountain nature reserve in Beijing, since Wuling Mountain in Hebei province borders Beijing.

Besides, Beijing will have 30 open suburban forest parks, which constitute the main part of the world-class ecological system, by improving the infrastructure and ecological landscape of the existing forest parks in Daxing districts, Fangshan districts and other suburban districts.

A large-scale forest wetlands cluster will also be built by 2020 after connecting the forest wetlands in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province, with the areas where the 2022 Winter Olympics will be held as a center.

85 percent of the Beijing residents will have green parklands to enjoy within 500 meters of their homes by 2020. Beijing will see new green areas covering 2,300 hectares by 2020, according to the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Landscape and Forestry.