About half of Shenzhen's total area is placed within the nature protection area demarcation line for suburb parks and greenery. Forests cover 47.6 percent of the total land.

Environmental Protection

In 2008, the city's air quality reached Level 2 of the national standard. A total of 364 days were rated as "good" or "basically good." The drinking water's quality reached the national standard. Standards were met for 99.87 percent of the water in the city's major reservoir used for drinking. The average urban noise level was 56.4 decibels. Eighty-eight percent of the city's areas met noise standards. No radioactive hazards were found.

Shenzhen has built a comparatively complete system to monitor environmental quality and sources of pollution. There are 26 stations automatically monitoring air, water and noise polluters at present. The city's online monitoring system has included 304 enterprises and 360 sites.

The city also put 22 departments under an accountability system to assess their environmental protection achievements.

Ecological Garden City

Shenzhen, dubbed City of Parks, has a pleasant natural environment. It has 615 parks totaling 159,860 hectares. The urban greenbelt coverage in developed areas is 45.02 percent, with a per capita green area of 16.2 square meters. By 2010, the number of the city's forest parks will reach 17, accounting for 22.03 percent of the city's total land area.

Shenzhen has won awards from domestic and overseas authorities, which include Nations in Bloom, UNEP's Global Top 500 Laureate Roll of Honor, National Hygienic City, National Model City for Environmental Protection, Model City for Protection of Ozone Layer, National Greenery Model City and National Brilliant Tourism City.