At the prize-awarding ceremony held in Hulunbuir City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on July 9th, 2012: Guo Youming (middle, vice provincial governor and secretary of municipal committee), Wang Guobin (left, deputy municipal mayor) and Xiong Changquan (right, chief of Municipal Bureau of Forestry Administration) who received the honor certificate of "National Forest City" (photographed by Ke Xiaoyu)

　　The Ninth China Urban Forest Forum was held in Hulunbuir City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on the morning of July 9th, 2012. Wang Gang, a Member of the Politboro CPC Central Committee and Vice-chairman of the National Committee of CPPCC as well as Director of National Organizing Committee on Forest-Related Activities attended the prize-awarding ceremony and delivered the honor certificates to the ten cities with the title of "National Forest City". Guo Youming, Vice Governor of Hubei Province and Secretary of Yichang Municipal Committee of the CPC attended the conference with the other members of the delegation from Yichang City and received the honor certificate. It is the second honor of national level that Yichang has won besides the title of "National Model City of Social Development" received in this year, which demonstrates one more aspect of social achievements in Yichang.

　　"National Forest City" is the highest-level honor of urban ecological construction in China, which requires the most authoritative approval and the best quality of urban ecological forestation. In total, 41 cities including Yichang have won the honor in the nine selections.

　　At present, Yichang has a forest coverage rate of 64 percent in the whole municipal territory and a green space ration of 38.79 percent in the urban areas, as well as a green coverage rate of 82.6 percent; its urban per capita green area reaches 13.92 ㎡, and the water-source land forest coverage rate has increased to 82.6 percent. In Yichang, 11 national or provincial forest parks and 36 natural reserve zones of all levels have been constructed. The air quality has been greatly improved and more than 350 days annually the air quality is above the second class. For the purpose of enlargement of the urban green land surface, 165 pieces of green lands have been vegetated or expanded in the past years, which has widely improved the urban residents\' access to the green lands.