National forests for public benefit are woodlands and forests in significant ecological niches or ecologically vulnerable areas, operated mainly to give full play to the ecological and social service functions of forests. They play a vital role in national ecological security, biodiversity protection, and sustainable economic and social development.
According to the unified deployment of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration and the Forestry Department of Jiangsu Province, Hongze District and Xuyi County of Huai'an began to optimize national forests for public benefit in June 2021. Based on "The Third National Land Resource Survey", the optimization aims to upgrade the scope of national forests for public benefit and eliminate those forests that do not meet the technical requirements of "data connection and fusion" or the division criteria.
After optimization, the area of national forests for public benefit in Huai'an totals 56,015 mu, including 29,737-mu state-owned and 26,278-mu non-state-owned forests. All forests are national secondary forests for public benefit, mainly located on both sides of Huaihe River in Hongze District, and important ecological niches around Huaihe River, Guiwu Reservoir, Huanong Reservoir, and Longwangshan Reservoir in Xuyi County.
