Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has issued its 15th Five-Year Plan for Forestry and Grassland Protection and Utilization, according to the regional forestry and grassland bureau.

The plan sets targets for 2030, including raising forest and grassland coverage to 60.38 percent, keeping comprehensive grassland vegetation coverage above 45 percent, maintaining the grass-livestock balance index below 10 percent, and achieving a total output value of 160 billion yuan for the forestry and grassland industry.

The plan calls for decisive victories in the three landmark campaigns of the Three-North Shelterbelt Program by 2030, with significant systematic governance results in the Yellow River "Jizi Bend" area, fundamental desertification control in the Horqin and Hunshandake sandy land eradication zones, and effective containment of desert expansion in the Hexi Corridor-Taklimakan Desert edge blockade zone.

It also aims for steady growth in total forest, grassland, and wetland resources, continuously enhanced ecosystem quality and service functions, notably improved forestry and grassland governance capacity, and a new level of modernization in the forestry and grassland industry, making the important ecological security barrier in northern China more solid.

The plan outlines tasks in building a new high-quality development pattern for territorial greening, comprehensively improving forestry and grassland resource protection, expanding paths for realizing ecological product value, deepening institutional and mechanism reforms, and strengthening support and guarantees.

In building the new greening development pattern, it specifies resolutely advancing the Three-North Shelterbelt Program, systematically promoting ecological restoration in key state-owned forest areas, and consolidating urban and rural greening. More than 157 million mu of ecological construction tasks will be completed during the 15th Five-Year Plan period.

The plan promotes the Greater Khingan Mountains forest ecological conservation project and major ecological construction projects such as water source protection and governance in the upper Nenjiang River, completing over 4 million mu of construction tasks. It supports 10 key banners, counties, and districts, and 500 key villages in greening and beautification, consolidating 1,000 key greening villages and building 300 premium greening villages.

In comprehensively improving resource protection, the plan specifies strengthening forest, grassland, and wetland resource protection, advancing the construction of natural protected area systems, systematically addressing grassland overgrazing, enhancing wildlife protection and breeding, and improving disaster prevention and control. By 2030, forest area will reach 382 million mu, basic grassland area will remain stable at 731 million mu, and wetland area will stay at 72 million mu. Natural protected areas will account for no less than 11.59 percent of the region's land area.

In expanding ecological product value realization, the plan specifies strengthening the forestry and grassland industry and accelerating forestry and grassland carbon sinks. By 2030, forest food supply capacity will reach 1.7 million tons, and various forage supply capacity will exceed 78 million tons. Guided by building the "Northern Green Carbon" brand, it will implement three major actions: carbon sequestration enhancement, value realization, and pilot demonstrations. By 2030, the region's forest, grassland, and wetland carbon storage will exceed 11 billion tons, with annual carbon sink volume stabilizing at 120 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.

In deepening institutional reforms, the plan specifies deepening collective forest tenure reform and steadily advancing the second round of grassland contract extensions. By 2030, the second round of grassland contract extension work will be basically completed.

In strengthening support and guarantees, the plan specifies improving seedling security capacity, enhancing technological innovation and achievement transformation, conducting surveys and monitoring of forest, grassland, wetland, and wasteland resources, advancing standardized construction of state-owned forest farms and grassroots stations, and strengthening forestry and grassland law enforcement. Two new national forest and grassland germplasm resource banks will be built, and the germplasm collection, preservation, evaluation, and identification system will be improved. The breeding capacity of 40 safeguard nurseries and 560,000 mu of grass seed breeding bases will be consolidated, with annual seedling and grass seed production capacity stabilizing at over 1 billion plants and 7 million kilograms, respectively.