On August 1, the Information Office of Liaoning Provincial People’s Government held a press conference to introduce the assessment of the meteorological monitoring results regarding the ecological quality of vegetation and air quality in Liaoning Province.

According to satellite monitoring results, the ecological quality of vegetation and air quality in Liaoning have significantly improved since 2012, reaching their optimal levels in 2022. Compared to the period of 2000-2011, the average values of vegetation coverage and vegetation ecological quality index in Liaoning both increased by 9.2% from 2012 to 2022, with the vegetation coverage remaining above 58% in the past three years. In 2022, the vegetation coverage of the entire province reached 60.8%, and the vegetation ecological quality index reached 57.9%, the highest since 2000.

Since 2012, 92.1% of the areas in Liaoning have maintained or increased their vegetation coverage, while 92.3% of the areas have shown stable or increasing trends in vegetation ecological quality index. Moreover, 97.2% of the areas have increased their soil conservation capacity, and 68.5% of the areas have increased their water conservation capacity. The average soil conservation and water conservation capacity of Liaoning have increased by 19.9% and 17.4%, respectively. Key areas such as A’er Township in Zhangwu County and the Panjin Wetland have shown improvement in vegetation ecology.

From 2012 to 2022, the average AOD (Aerosol Optical Depth) in Liaoning decreased by 4.4% compared to the period of 2000-2011, with a decrease rate of 0.01/10 years, indicating an improvement in air quality throughout the province. Since 2012, the AOD value of the entire province has significantly decreased, reaching its lowest point in 2022. In terms of spatial distribution, 96.8% of the regions in Liaoning have shown a decreasing trend in AOD, with the largest decrease occurring in the southern part of Panjin and the northwest coastal area of Yingkou.