Set up jointly by the China-Japan Scientific Technology & Economic Exchange Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Hebei Province Forestry Bureau, the Tokyo-based NPO Green Earth Center and TMC, the center has been established to solidify afforestation activities in the region, to be functional in creating a system able to spread these activities to other regions, to assist in the cultivation of experts in afforestation and to disseminate information on combating desertification.

The center forms part of the third-term joint activities laid out under the 21st Century Greater Beijing Reforestation Model. The model, a Sino-Japanese afforestation initiative that has been underway since April 2001, is an effort to prevent the expansion of desertification that is encroaching upon Beijing and other areas around the Chinese capital. TMC is supporting these joint initiatives through such ways as the provision of ¥450 million (US$4.3 million), including the cost of building the afforestation center.