Photo shows the Longjinhu Park in Longyan City, southeast China's Fujian Province.
Over the past five years, Longyan City in southeast China's Fujian Province has been dedicated to the coordinated development of ecological protection and local economy through ecological restoration, mechanism innovation and industrial integration, striving to achieve high-quality development in the former revolutionary base area.
The city has implemented comprehensive ecological and environmental improvement initiatives for four consecutive years. The proportion of high-grade water quality monitored in the city's major rivers increased from 47.4 percent in 2021 to 92.1 percent in 2025. Urban air quality has consistently ranked among the best in Fujian Province. The city's forest coverage rate has reached 79.21 percent, maintaining its top ranking in the province.
Photo shows the Shimen Lake of Guanzhai Mountain in Liancheng County, southeast China's Fujian Province.
Through upgrading its soil and water conservation approaches adopted in Changting County, Longyan's approach has evolved from targeted interventions in specific areas to comprehensive, region-wide ecological management.
By establishing an integrated regulatory framework encompassing spatial planning and control, technological innovation, and credit-based supervision, the proportion of land under soil and water conservation in the city increased from 93.97 percent at the end of 2020 to 94.45 percent at the end of 2025.
Meanwhile, Longyan has continued to deepen reforms of collective forest tenure system. It has established a blockchain-based financial service platform for the forestry sector and introduced an innovative "share-based forest ticket" system to unlock the value of fragmented forestland.
These initiatives have helped transform forest resources into assets and enable farmers to become shareholders, while establishing demonstration models that can be replicated and promoted elsewhere.
Photo shows the Future City of the Northern New Town of Longyan Central City (Xiamen-Longyan Cooperation Zone) in southeast China's Fujian Province.
Longyan has also steadily advanced its national forestry carbon sink pilot program. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), it completed carbon sink transactions totaling 450,000 tonnes, generating 6.83 million yuan (about 1.02 million U.S. dollars) in transaction value.
Instruments such as forest tickets, forestry finance, and carbon sink trading have created channels for converting ecological resources into economic returns, enabling ordinary residents to benefit directly from environmental protection.
Longyan has also intensified its ecological restoration efforts. Since 2021, the city has implemented 21 mine rehabilitation projects, restored 53 abandoned mining sites, treated more than 5,100 mu (about 340 hectares) of land affected by soil erosion, and reclaimed 727.38 mu (about 48 hectares) of farmland.
A number of mining parks have emerged, transforming once-scarred mining areas into new urban spaces for leisure, sightseeing, science education, and study tours. (Edited by Li Xueqing with Xinhua Silk Road, lixueqing@xinhua.org)
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