XINING - Northwest China's Qinghai province saw significant growth in land greening in 2022, as part of efforts to protect the natural environment, according to official data released at a news conference Thursday.

The province, which is known as China's "water tower", saw the greening of 5.26 million mu (about 350,333 hectares) of land during 2022. The greening work included 2.59 million mu of grassland restoration and 1.27 million mu of sand prevention and control.

Zhao Haiping, deputy director of Qinghai provincial forestry and grassland administration, said that the greening of Qinghai is related to the water conservation of the "water tower" of China, the control of desertification in western China, and the enhancement of the national carbon sink capacity.

Qinghai administers part of the Sanjiangyuan area, which contains the headwaters of China's three major rivers, namely the Yangtze, Yellow and Lancang rivers.