Abstract: The Three-North Afforestation Program (TNAP, also known as the Three North Protective Forest Program or the Green Great Wall) in China, the largest ecological project all over the world, was initiated in 1978 and will be fulfilled in 2050. The TNAP is an important landmark project for the construction of Ecological Civilization. During the past 40-years (1978-2018), TNAP has made remarkable achievements and accumulated valuable experiences, which makes it an exemplary record of global ecological management. However, some inevitable problems appeared synchronously. To scientifically and accurately understand the comprehensive situation and promote highquality development of the TNAP in the future, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration (formerly the National Forestry Administration, which is the Administration Agency of TNAP) commissioned the Chinese Academy of Sciences as a third-party evaluation agency to carry out a comprehensive and systematic assessment for the 40-year construction of TNAP. The assessment results would provide important evidence for the construction of Beautiful ChinaEcological Civilization, and offer the experiences and examples for the construction of global projects for ecological security. In this paper, we gave a brief introduction to the assessment, including history, achievements, impacts, and the problems of the 40-year construction of TNAP. On the basis of this assessment, we proposed some prospects for the future construction and development of TNAP.

Key words: Three-North Afforestation Program, TNAP, construction of ecological civilization, impact assessment.