Shanghai to become even greener this year

Shanghai will add another 50 urban parks by the end of this year, bringing the total figure to around 400, a senior greenery official revealed on Monday.

The city now boasts 352 city parks, seven countryside parks and four national-level forest parks, according to the Shanghai Greenery and Public Sanitation Bureau. By 2025, the total will climb to over 1,000, say officials.

Meanwhile, another 50 small-scale "pocket parks" will also be built this year.

"They decorate the city with exquisite greenery landscapes and they are at residents' doorways," Deng Jianping, director of the bureau, said during a radio program.

"During the COVID-19 pandemic, many urban parks were closed. These pocket gardens made up for residents' inability to visit larger parks," said Deng.

Among Shanghai's 352 city parks, 96.6 percent have reopened, and the rest are undergoing construction.

More than 90 percent of city parks are open free of charge, and the rest are zoos, forest parks and botanical gardens, according to the bureau.

The city's forest coverage will reach 18.2 percent this year, compared with 17.56 percent last year and 3.17 percent in 1999. More than 300,000 mu (20,100 hectares) of forest has also been created since 2016.

"Centering on 17 key ecological corridors and the Chongming world-class ecological island, the city has stepped up efforts in the construction of countryside parks, ecological corridors, vertical greenery and outer ring road greenery projects," said Deng.

The city had 202,900 mu of fruit-bearing vegetation planted by the end of last year, and the annual output is 277,300 tons, according to the bureau.