Pingtan Carries out Green, Low-Carbon, and Environment-Friendly Development Concept

Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets. Good ecological environment benefits the people's livelihood. In recent years, Pingtan Experimental Area has actively carried out green, low-carbon and environment-friendly development concept, stably promoted the construction of ecological civilization, and comprehensively fought tough battles of air, water and soil pollution prevention. The Lan Island has taken on an entirely new look and the residents' living conditions have been greatly improved.  

The forest coverage rate has increased from 0.3% in 1949 to 37.3% in 2019; the air quality composite index of the experimental area has been in the first place among the nine cities and one experimental area of the province for three consecutive years from 2017 to the first quarter of 2019; since 2017, in the 36-Feet Lake, the centralized drinking water source, the qualified rate of ClassⅢ water has maintained 100%... During 70 years, the ecological environment of Pingtan has achieved a qualitative leap.

At Qingfeng Terminal in Suping Subarea, domestic sewage of the residents of Qingfeng Village has been treated thanks to the newly built Qingfeng Sewage Treatment Plant. Before that, the people's domestic sewage basically was discharged into the soil and sea directly without being treated, which increased the hidden danger of environmental pollution in the countryside. The villagers were bothered by it. The appearance and use of the sewage treatment plant has fundamentally changed the unordered discharge of domestic sewage in Qingfeng Village and greatly improved the living environment in the countryside.

In recent years, the experimental area has got about RMB 115 billion of special funds from the central government. The funds have been used in the rural environment improvement comprehensive projects and beautiful countryside construction projects. 16 decentralized sewage treatment plants have been built in 3 townships, and 82 garbage collection and transportation projects in administrative villages of 8 townships, thus solving the problem of domestic sewage direct discharge of 21 administrative villages with a population of about 32,000 on 3 offshore islands and the problem of garbage collection in 8 townships.

A few days ago, the Pingtan Sludge Treatment Center was officially put into operation. After the sludge is treated in the center, aerobic composting can be carried out to obtain organic fertilizer for green plants. "After Pingtan Sludge Treatment Center was put into operation, sludge is not only turned into treasure, it can also serve agriculture, forestry and horticulture, improve ecological environment, promote the construction of Pingtan International Tourism Island, and protect the real treasure of Pingtan's ecological environment" says Liu Yongbing, the person in charge of the project.

Walking on the road of the Pingtan Zhuyu Bay ecological regulation and rehabilitation project which surrounds the lake, the reporter sees that the original barren slopes have been covered by nearly 100 kinds of green plants, including council trees, Madagascar jasmine, cotton trees, stiff bottlebrushes and roses. They are well-spaced and there is intense atmosphere of green ecology everywhere. Standing at a high place to look down, one can have a panoramic view of the "ecological gallery."

As the biggest urban waterfront ecological park in Pingtan, Zhuyu Lake Park has undergone a great change from wasteland to an ecological and dimensional park within just a few years. Zhuyu Lake Park, covering a total area of 5,862 mu, combining green space and arts and culture, has been built into a comprehensive leisure park with integrated functions covering recreation, service and public administration. Present Zhuyu Lake Park, with its natural and harmonious beauty, is showing the world the harmonious dialogues between the city and the water, and between the city and the forests.

In 1949, Pingtan's forests only covered an area of 15,400 mu and the forest coverage rate was only 0.3%. 124 natural villages around the five wind gaps were seriously damaged by wind and sand, 39 of them had to move to other places.

Changjiang'ao is the biggest wind gap in Pingtan. After the experimental area was established, Changjiang'ao sandy wasteland comprehensive treatment was listed as the key work in Pingtan forestry ecological environment construction. On the basis of original coastal trunk shelterbelt, at the front of the coast, windbreaks have been built, soil has been covered and Chinese sweetspire has been planted, several fences have been built to keep off the wind, and over 2-year-old seedlings of "Pingtan No.2" coast oak have been planted in water planting containers. Finally, forests has increased and sand has retreated, the coastal trunk shelterbelt has been constantly pushed forward, the green barrier at Changjiang'ao wind gap has gradually been firmly built, and Pingtan's ecological construction has achieved another breakthrough.

Since 2019, there has been a total of 6,980 mu of new green area in the experimental area, the forest coverage rate has increased by 1.5%, reaching 37.3%, and the urban greening rate has reached 90%. At present, citizens can see green plants as long as they open their windows, and when they go out, they are like going to a park. The greenery at their doorstep has become their "little happiness." "Livable ecology" has been continuously embedded in the happy life of Pingtan people.