Adopt-a-tree campaign grows roots on Arbor Day
People plant trees at Chenshan Botanical Garden on Friday.
A worker at Shanghai Botanical Garden shows a tree to its adopter via video talk today.
About 100,000 trees around the city are available for adoption, Shanghai's greenery authorities announced today which is Arbor Day.
With steadily decreasing amount of space for tree planting in the city, greenery authorities are encouraging people to adopt a tree rather than plant one.
The city's online tree adoption platform has been upgraded, with information about what trees are available, where they are and how much it costs to adopt — making the process more transparent and convenient, according to the Shanghai Greenery and Public Sanitation Bureau.
The platform is accessible via the bureau's WeChat account “Green Shanghai” and its website (http://lhsr.sh.gov.cn).
People who adopt trees will see cards with their names on them via cellphone if they are not able to hang the cards themselves. They can also receive photos and videos to follow the growth of their trees.
A tree with a card listing the name of its adopter at Shanghai Botanical Garden.
People inquire about tree adoptions at Guyi Garden today.
Adopters will receive adoption certificates online.
At different times of the year, seasonal tree varieties such as cherry and plum blossoms are available for adoption.
Some trees more than a century old are also available for adoption.
Round-the-clock platforms will be created, enabling people to see these trees any time via online channels.
The Shanghai Binjiang Forest Park, Gongqing Forest Park, Chenshan Botanical Garden, Guyi Garden and Jing'an, Huangpu, Putuo and Minhang districts have made test runs on the upgraded platform and will be included on it by the end of the year.
The Shanghai Botanical Garden has 200 trees, including peach and cherry blossoms, for adoption, while the Chenshan Botanical Garden has plum blossom, magnolia and begonia trees.
Guyi Garden has 19 old trees for adoption, including a 500-year-old locust tree and a 112-year-old ginkgo tree.
At the end of 2020, Shanghai's forest coverage was almost 18.5 percent, up from about 5 percent in the early 1990s.
