The lush landscape of Yucun village in Huzhou, Zhejiang province. [Photo/Tide News]

Huzhou city in East China's Zhejiang province is making significant strides in expanding its forest coverage and stock volume.

Huzhou's forest coverage rate has risen to 39.37 percent, an increase of 0.1 percent. The city's forest stock volume has exceeded 10 million cubic meters, growing by 3.48 percent. Both indicators now rank among the highest in the province.

The city has implemented measures such as reforestation, forest nurturing, and degraded forest restoration to enhance the stability and carbon sequestration capacity of its forest ecosystems. Over the past five years, Huzhou has completed more than 3,660 hectares of new greening projects and improved the quality of 11,800 hectares of forest.

The city has seen a surge in voluntary tree planting, with 7.5 million participants planting more than 19.12 million saplings over the past five years.

Huzhou's forestry industry is thriving, with a total output value of 87 billion yuan ($12.66 billion) last year, ranking second in the province. The city has leveraged its rich forest resources to develop unique industries such as forest wellness and under-forest planting and breeding, boosting economic growth and increasing villagers' incomes.

This year, the city plans to improve the quality of 6,000 hectares of forest and plant 600 hectares of artificial forest.