Saihanba: Environmental Restoration
Saihanba is a Mongolian word meaning "beautiful mountain ridges and source of water." It is located on the plateau in north Hebei Province. In the past, Saihanba had plenty of water and lush pastures, dense forests and abundant wildlife. It was part of the royal hunting ground in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).
However, large-scale reclamation and excessive logging began in the 1860s. Mountain fires and wars made the situation even worse. By the early 1950s, primitive forests were nowhere to be seen, and Saihanba had become a desolate wild land with a bad climate and serious desertification.
After the People's Republic was founded in 1949, afforestation began to attract increasing government attention. In the mid-1950s, Mao Zedong made a call to the nation to turn the country green. In 1961, the Ministry of Forestry decided to build an artificial forest farm in north Hebei, and Saihanba was chosen as the site. The following year, the Saihanba mechanized forest farm was set up. A total of 127 college graduates came from across the country. At the very beginning, together with local workers, 369 pioneers engaged in planting trees on this vast land.
Struggling against the harsh conditions, strong winds, and severe cold, three generations of foresters have devoted themselves to Saihanba. After more than half a century, they have built the world's largest area of man-made forest, across an area of 75,000 hectares with a forest coverage of 80 percent, which has effectively stopped the southward expansion of the desert in the north.
To balance economic development and environmental protection, the forest farm has adopted various measures. These include reinforcing management to ensure security of forest resources and significant ecological benefits, using self-raised funds and advanced technology to green the barren mountains and sandy land, improving the industrial structure, reducing lumber cutting quotas, and developing forest tourism, sapling nursery, and forest carbon sink projects. These efforts have turned the forests into a green bank that helps sustain the farm's further production, improve the workers' lives, and help the local people escape poverty.
When inspecting Saihanba in August 2021, Xi Jinping said that the forest farm's history is a saga of arduous endeavor. The workers have forged a spirit of staying true to their original mission, hard work and enterprise, and pursuing green development. They have played an exemplary role in national eco-environmental conservation.
By building a huge sea of man-made forest, Saihanba has set an example in eco-environmental conservation. The workers have won the Champions of the Earth Award, the UN's highest honor for environmental protection, and the farm has become a national model of poverty alleviation.
The experience of Saihanba proves that natural ecosystems can have their vulnerable and degraded areas restored, and that sandy land and barren mountains can become lush after persistent and science-based efforts. Green development can turn environmental strength into economic strength, and turn green mountains into mountains of gold.
塞罕壩生態修復建設
塞罕壩，蒙古語中意為“美麗的山嶺水源之地”，位于河北省最北部的壩上地區。歷史上，這里水草豐美、森林茂密、鳥獸繁多，曾是清朝木蘭圍場的一部分。從19世紀60年代起，這里開圍放墾，樹木被大肆砍伐，加之戰爭和山火等原因，到20世紀50年代初期，原始森林蕩然無存，退變為氣候惡劣、沙化嚴重、偏遠閉塞的茫茫荒原。
新中國成立后，國家十分重視國土綠化。20世紀50年代中期，毛澤東發出“綠化祖國”的偉大號召。1961年，國家林業部決定在河北北部建立大型機械林場，并選址塞罕壩。1962年，塞罕壩機械林場正式組建。來自全國18個省市的127名大中專畢業生，與當地干部職工一起組成了一支369人的創業隊伍，拉開了塞罕壩造林綠化的歷史帷幕。
經過半個多世紀的接力奮斗，三代塞罕壩人在這片風大寒冷、人跡罕至的塞外高原上，成功營造出總面積112萬畝、森林覆蓋率達到80%的世界上最大的人工林海，有效地阻滯了內蒙古渾善達克沙地南侵。為處理好經濟發展與環境保護的關系，林場通過嚴格管護、科學營林，確保森林資源安全，并釋放其最大生態紅利；追加自籌資金，采用先進技術在荒山沙地、貧瘠山地開展攻堅造林，增加資源儲備；優化產業結構，大幅壓縮木材采伐限額，依靠資源優勢有序有節地發展森林旅游觀光業、綠化苗木產業及森林碳匯項目，使這片林海逐步成為林場生產發展、職工生活改善、周邊群眾脫貧致富的“綠色銀行”。
2021年8月，習近平在塞罕壩機械林場考察時指出，塞罕壩林場建設史是一部可歌可泣的艱苦奮斗史。塞罕壩人用實際行動鑄就了牢記使命、艱苦創業、綠色發展的塞罕壩精神，這對全國生態文明建設具有重要示范意義。
塞罕壩成功營造起百萬畝人工林海，創造了世界生態文明建設史上的典型，林場建設者獲得聯合國環保最高榮譽——地球衛士獎，機械林場榮獲全國脫貧攻堅楷模稱號。塞罕壩林場的實踐證明，對于生態脆弱、生態退化地區，只要科學定位，久久為功，自然生態系統就可以得到修復重建，讓沙地荒山變成綠水青山；只要堅持綠色發展，就可以將生態優勢轉化為經濟優勢，讓綠水青山成為金山銀山。
