Interviewe with Sheng Jinlong, vice-mayor of Nanjing municiple government

　　Nanjing is located in the devel-oped economic delta as a central city in the mid-lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The municipality made a decision on rapidly developing its urban forest project. Chinaweek reporter had an interview with Mr Sheng Jinlong, one of Nanjing's mayors, to talk something about what readers both at home and abroad are much more concerned.

　　Reporter: Building Nanjing into a green city is a system of ecological project that will serve the present and benefit the future. First of all, I'd like to ask a question about the historical background by taking such a great measure.

　　Mayor: As a central city situated in the mid-lower reaches of the Yangtze River, Nanjing has been well known both at home and abroad for being an ancient capital, cultural city and green city. However, with the rapid development of urban modernisation, Nanjing has lagged behind in developing its ecologist greenness with forest. That's why the municipality made an important decision of planting more trees so as to build Nanjing into the ecological greenness.

　　Reporter: What is the inside meaning of Green Nanjing?

　　Mayor: Building Nanjing into a green city means carrying out the urban forest project in order to be suitable to its modernization. There are three main points: one is to have an idea or a theory that city and countryside should be like a united organic body. It is necessary to break up the traditional idea that only the bare hills or ridges need planting trees for green vegetation. Now we must make full use of the urban financial support to equip the countryside land so as to carry out a good combination between urban building and forest developing. In the inner city we give prominence to building a large acreage of forest as a sightseeing area. The suburbs will be built with the shelter-forest parks as a good view, and the suburbs afar will be built with forests as the economic and timber resource. The key link with forests should spread along the city edge, road, and river. The vast greenness of forest will have the old city and the new one, the central city and towns nearby, in connection with each other by expressway with forests on both sides. And the shelter-forest will penetrate or separate different areas. Secondly, we give prominence to such a point that human beings should be taken as everything more important than any others. We should make full use of multiple functions of forestry to meet the people's needs in material field or cultural field, including providing some products and resorts in agriculture or forestry so as to help them spend their holidays or relax themselves with pleasure.

　　There are three green systems to be built. One is called the ecologically green screen, which will play different roles in different places. This system needs to build standard passages, shelter forests along the rivers, a separation forest belt in the chemical and industrial area and water conservation forest in the mountainous areas. There is no doubt that such a green screen will benefit the urban environment, resident living conditions and agricultural production. Another is called ecological production system in which the seedling or some kinds of young plant or fruit trees will be produced in order to increase farmers' income. And still another, the ecologically green system of culture that means building up different kinds of Forest Park with different cultural themes.

　　Thirdly, do strengthen the concept of forestry management. The municipality must make a series of policies to encourage individuals and enterprises to take an active part in building Nanjing into a green ecological city under the leadership of the municipality with all kinds of social efforts.

　　Reporter: What new changes will happen with building Nanjing into a green city? What's the general goal of your ecological green project?

　　Mayor: As a project, building Nanjing into an ecological green city depends on the General Program of Nanjing Urban Construction. A large acreage of forest will surround the inner city, fold by fold or circle by circle, in different scales of forest belts that will form the so-called green ecological screen, green-ecological industry and green ecological culture. That means Nanjing's characteristics to win its reputation.

　　The general goal for building Nanjing into a green ecological city is that in 2005, the forest land area will attain 1.9 mil. mu, aiming at 2.1 mil. mu; the forest coverage will reach 22%with the aim of 25 %; the public green land per capita will come to 12 square meters. And the land with forest will reach 2.6 mil. mu in 2010, bringing the forest coverage up to 30% and the public green land per capita up to 15 square meters. In the coming 7 years, forest land area will increase by 1.4 mil. mu, with an annual increase of 0.2 mil. mu on average.

　　Reporter: Would you like to talk about the advantages and disadvantages in carrying out the green-project?

　　Mayor: As a political centre of China from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), and then the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (1851-1864) to the period of the Republic of China (1912-1949), Nanjing (Nanking) had been suffering from serious warring damage. At the very beginning of New China, the whole city, Nanking, just left 10,000 hectares of forest in all. The forest vegetation has been gradually recovered with the people's afforestation activities since 1950s and 1960s.

　　Up to 2001, there were 1.27 mil. mu of land for forestry in the whole city with 10,000 mu of green gardens or parks and 9.2 square meters of public green land per capita. Forestry won some breakthrough in building 100,000 mu of fast-growing and high-yielding timber forest, 110,000 mu of nurseries and flower beds and 200,000 mu of economic forest. The forestry production value has increased at average of 30 % a year for the past three years. With the tour developing fast, five national and provincial forest parks were established, namely, Laoshan (Old Mountain), Niushoushan (Ox-Head Mountain), Rain-flower Mesa, Lishui-Wuxiang (Thoughtless) Temple and Gaocun-youzi (Wanderer) Hills.

　　At present, there are tens of enterprises and hundreds of private owners and scientific technical members that invest in the commercial forest and young plant and flower so as to bring some vital force to develop the municipal forestry.

　　However, a general analysis of Nanjing's forestry development has showed us much more difficulties we will meet. First of all, the total quantity of forest resource tends to be small. Secondly, the green land with forest was unevenly distributed. Thirdly, the ecological system of forest is incomplete, that is, the shelter-forest along the rivers has not formed and the separation forest belt against chemical pollution has not been established. Fourthly, the superiority of forestry has not been fully brought into play, and the forestry's contributions are still quite small in economy to the adjoining areas or counties and the whole city. Therefore, the task to develop the municipal forestry is still full of hardships.

　　Reporter: Mayor Sheng, thanks for your interview with me.