Beijing, Apr 4 (IANS): President Hu Jintao has called for more efforts to promote voluntary tree-planting to provide ecological support to China's scientific development.

Introduced in 1981, the campaign remains effective in coping with climate change, improving ecological environment and achieving greener growth, People's Daily quoted the Chinese president as saying during an annual tree-planting event featuring the entire Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee.

"We should further mobilise the public and take full advantage of science and technologies in promoting the campaign," said Hu.

According to statistics from the State Forestry Administration (SFA), Chinese volunteers have planted over 61 billion trees across the country over the past three decades.

Hu also urged the municipal authority of Beijing to speed up the building of a greener Beijing and improve the quality of environment in an all-round manner.

The Chinese president told municipal officials that Beijing has to pioneer in the national drive towards ecological development.

The country's forest coverage reached over 20 percent in 2010, up from about 18 percent in 2005, and is expected to further increase to about 22 percent by 2015.