In 2020, Huai'an proposed to build into a national forest city by 2023 and an international wetland city by 2024, so as to achieve a forest coverage rate of more than 25% in the whole city, a greening coverage rate of over 40% and a per capita park area above 12 square meters in urban areas. The wetland area will be no less than 3,007,500 mu, the protection rate of which strives to 60% up. The city's forest coverage will continue to grow, wetland ecological restoration projects will make substantial progress, and its ecological environment will be significantly improved.
By the end of 2020, the city's forest coverage reached 3.246 million mu, the rate of which is 24.17%, while its wetland reserve achieved 3.127 million mu, with 59.2% of natural wetland protection rate. Ancient Huaihe National Wetland Park and Baima Lake National Wetland Park have been completed, as well as Tieshan Temple National Forest Park and First Mountain National Forest Park both in Xuyi County.
