China has planted 4.45 million hectares of trees and improved 3.22 million hectares of grassland, official data showed on Sunday.

The country reclaimed 2.45 million hectares of desertified land last year, while the country’s forest cover exceeded 25 percent, according to a virtual national conference on forest and grassland work.

Part of the effort was the injection of 32 billion yuan (about US$4.46 billion) into the “Three Northern Regions Protective Belt Forest Programme”, known as the world’s largest reforestation programme to combat desertification in China’s northwest, north and northeast.

Urban green areas have expanded, with vegetation now covering 43.32 per cent of urban built-up areas and 15.65 square metres of park space per capita.

More than 200 cities have been awarded the title of “National Forest City”, while the green cover rate in villages has reached 32.01 per cent.