An aerial view of newly-planted trees in Qidong, a county-level city in Nantong, East China’s Jiangsu province [Photo/WeChat account of Qidong Daily]

Qidong, a county-level city in Nantong, East China’s Jiangsu province, has retained the top spot on the monthly air quality list recently released by the Jiangsu Department of Ecological Environment. 

The list provides rankings for all the 54 counties in Jiangsu in terms of their air quality during February based on the concentration of PM 2.5. Qidong ranked in first place with a PM 2.5 concentration of 40.5 micrograms per square meter for the second consecutive month.

The top three counties on the list are all in Nantong, with Rudong listed second and Haimen third. 

Qidong owes its good air quality to the county-level city’s ambitious tree-planting program. In 2018, the newly-added reforestation area of the city hit 25,000 mu (1,667 hectares), taking its forest coverage ratio from 16.98 percent in 2012 to 25.31 percent in 2018. 

The efforts by local authorities to keep the city’s air clean and at restoring the natural environment have been recognized by provincial authorities.

Newly-planted trees line a street in Qidong, a county-level city in Nantong, East China’s Jiangsu province [Photo/WeChat account of Qidong Daily]