Issued by the State Forestry Administration of China in June 2017
The government of China is always committed to forestry work. Because of its lasting efforts, the forest coverage has increased from 8.6% in early 1950s to 21.63% today with a present total area of 208 million hectares and a forest stock volume of 15.137 billion cubic meters. Its wetland coverage is 53.6026 million hectares, 5.58% of the country’s land territory. The desertified land grew averagely by 3436 square kilometers every year in late 1990s, while it recently shrinks average 1980 square kilometers yearly, indicating that desertification in China has been preliminarily curbed. Furthermore, 2729 different types of nature reserves have been established at all levels, which have put wildlife under effective protection.
Forest ecosystem
China is characterized by geomorphological diversity, complex climate conditions, numerous floristics and diverse types of forests. Both China’s forest coverage and stock volume have maintained growth for more than 20 years since early 1990s. This indicates that a series of governmental significant strategic decisions on forestry and ecology development as well as a number of key forestry ecological projects, such as the natural forest protection project, have obviously paid off. These efforts have played an important role in maintaining global ecological balance, protecting bio-diversity, harnessing climate change, and promoting economic, ecological and social sustainable development in the world. China’s forest resources, according to the 8th Survey of the National Forest Resources (2009–2013), have entered a period of stable growth in quantity and steady improvement in quality.
Forest land:
China has 310.46 million hectares of forest land, including:
● 191.17 million hectares of forested land
● 4.01 million hectares of open woodland
● 55.9 million hectares of shrub land
● 7.11 million hectares of afforested land
● 39.58 million hectares of land suitable for afforestation
● 12.69 million hectares of other woodland (including land for tree nursery, non-forest land and land for forestry auxiliary production)
The ownership of woodland:
● State-owned: 124.16 million hectares, 40% of all
● Collective-owned: 186.3 million hectares, 60% of all
Forest:
● Nationwide forest coverage: 208 million hectares
● Forest coverage rate: 21.63%
● Forest stock volume: 15.137 billion cubic meters
● Average arbor forest stock volume: 89.79 cubic meters/hectares
The nationwide arbor forests classified by age:
● Young stand: 53.32 million hectares of coverage with 1.63 billion cubic meters of stock volume
● Medium stand: 53.11 million hectares of coverage with 4.106 billion cubic meters of stock volume
● Near-mature stand: 25.83 million hectares of coverage with 3.034 billion cubic meters of stock volume
● Mature stand: 21.76 million hectares of coverage with 3.564 billion cubic meters of stock volume
● Over-mature stand: 10.58 million hectares of coverage with 2.445 billion cubic meters of stock volume
The nationwide arbor forests classified by dominant function:
● Shelter forest: 99.67 million hectares of coverage with 7.948 billion cubic meters of stock volume
● Timber forest: 67.24 million hectares of coverage with 4.602 billion cubic meters of stock volume
● Economic forest: 20.56 million hectares of coverage
● Fuelwood forest: 1.77 million hectares of coverage with 59 million cubic meters of stock volume
● Special-purpose forest: 16.31 million hectares of coverage with 2.17 billion cubic meters of stock volume
The nationwide arbor forests classified by origin:
● Natural forest: 121.84 million hectares of coverage with 12.296 billion cubic meters of stock volume
● Planted forest: 69.33 million hectares of coverage with 2.483 billion cubic meters of stock volume
Bamboo:
6.01 million hectares, accounting for 3% of nationwide forest coverage.
● Moso bamboo stands: 4.43 million hectares, 74% of the all
● Other bamboo stands: 1.58 million hectares, 26% of the all
Shrub forest:
55.9 million hectares, 18% of nationwide forest coverage
Wetland ecosystem
China has a variety of large amount of widespread wetland with distinctive regional features and rich biodiversity. According to the Second National Survey on Wetland Resources released in January 2014, China has 53.6026 million hectares of wetland, accounting for 5.58% of her total land territory. Specially, natural wetland totals 46.6747 million hectares, accounting for 87.08% of the total wetlands while artificial wetland covers 6.7459 million hectares, accounting for 12.63%.
Natural wetland includes:
● Offshore and coastal wetland: 5.7959 million hectares, 12.42% of all
● Riverine wetland: 10.5521 million hectares, 22.61% of all
● Lake wetland: 8.5938 million hectares, 18.41% of all
● Marsh wetland: 21.7329 million hectares, 46.56% of all
By the end of 2016, in China there have been 49 sites of Wetlands of International Importance, 602 wetland nature reserves and 836 national wetland parks.
Desert ecosystem
The 5th National Monitoring Survey of Desertification and Sandification shows that, by 2014, the area of land that had been eroded into desert remained 2.6116 million square kilometers, 27.2% of China’s total land territory, whereas that of land overrun by sand totaled 1.7212 million square kilometers, 17.93% of the territory. Compared with the 2009 data, it is clear that the desertified land had decreased by 12120 square kilometers in five years with an average annual reduction of 2424 square kilometers; while the land overrun by sand declined by 9,902 square kilometers with an average annual reduction of 1,980 square kilometers. The decrease of both desertification and sandification has been realized in the three consecutive monitoring periods. The sound momentum presents the features of overall control, sustained decline, enhanced functions and notable outcomes, although the desertification and sandification harness remains a serious challenge.
Biodiversity
Diverse climate and complex terrains are distributed in China’s vast territory. Spanning tropical, temperate and frigid zones, the country has a wide range of ecosystems, containing almost all major types of ecosystems in the world and quite rich biological diversity. There are approximately 34000 types of higher plants, which include bryophyte 117 families (52 liverwort families and 65 moss families), with their sub-grouped 506 genera (144 liverwort genera and 362 moss genera) and further sub-grouped 2541 species accounting for 11.25% of the world total. The family number of fern amounts to 64 and its genera 221 and species 2275 which is about 19.25% of the world's total species. Having more gymnosperms than any other countries in the world, China has 12 families, 42 genera and 245 species of gymnosperm, accounting respectively for 80%, 51.22% and 28.82% of the world total. Her angiosperm includes 243 families, 3182 genera and 29230 species, having proportions of 61%, 31% and 12% of the world total.
China is also rich in animal species. As many as 6588 vertebrates have been recorded, 14% of the world entire number. Among them, 607 species of mammals are about 14.1% of the world total. The 1332 species of birds, including 271 wetland waterfowls (56 are under national priority protection), about 14.6% of the total globally, show that China has one of the widest variety of birds. The list also contains 452 reptile species, accounting for about 4.6% of the world total; 335 amphibious animal species, about 6.1% of the world total; and 3862 fish species, including 1118 recorded inland wetland fish species, about 17.5% of the world total fish species.
The 15000–18000 plants endemic to China indicate a rate of about 50%–60% of the world vascular plants, with a position of the 7th in the world, while the number of higher vertebrates in China ranks the 8th in the world.
Afforestation
Ecological construction is always a top priority in China and afforestation has been conducted continuously since 1950s. Particularly since the beginning of the 21st century, the country has stepped up efforts by plantation, aerial seeding and closing hillsides for facilitating afforestation.
In 2016, China completed afforestation of 7.2035 million hectares nationwide, including plantation 3.8237 million hectares, afforestation by aerial seeding 162300 hectares, area newly closed for natural regeneration 1.9536 million hectares, restoration of degraded forest 991100 hectares, and artificial regeneration 272800 hectares. Restoration of degraded forest increased dramatically, with a rate of 34.1% greater than that in 2015. Totally 1.831 billion trees were planted on house side, village side, roadside and waterside; and seedlings were cultivated in an area of 1.4074 million hectares. Another area of 3.7942 million hectares, accounting for 52.67% of the national total, was afforested in the 12 western regions.
China encourages all citizens to participate in afforestation. Two legal documents have regulated a citizen’s obligations on planting trees and protecting forests. One is Resolution on Launching the Nationwide Voluntary Tree-planting Campaign adopted in 1981 at the fourth session of the Fifth National People’s Congress. The other is Implementation Measures for Nationwide Voluntary Tree-planting Campaign promulgated in 1982 by the State Council.
Key forestry programs
Since 1978, the Chinese government has successively launched 16 major ecological restoration projects in the forestry sector which takes a leading position in overall national ecological restoration endeavor. The first type of ecological restoring engineering involves natural conservation projects which introduce strict protection for undamaged ecosystems, with focuses on protecting wildlife and building nature reserves. The second one includes natural renewal projects to strengthen protection so as to enable the damaged ecosystems to rehabilitate themselves to some extent, emphasizing natural forest and wetland protection and restoration. Thirdly, the projects of artificial promotion for natural restoration are aimed at the ecosystems that cannot restore by themselves or that take a long time to do so, with key projects on Three-North Forest Shelterbelts and sandstorm harnessing for Beijing-Tianjin areas. Fourth, artificial reconstruction projects rebuild with artificial means the ecosystems that had been completely destroyed. The stress lays on the Grain for Green Project, stone desertification harnessing project and farmland shelter forest project.
Natural Forest Protection Project
China launched the natural forest protection project in 2000 to reverse the trend of ecological degradation and stopped commercial logging in natural forests in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River as well as the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River. Timber production in Northeast China, Inner Mongolia and other key state-owned forests was cut. Thus, the focus of China’s forestry development strategy was shifted from timber production to ecological construction in order to rehabilitate once over-exploited natural forest resources and realize their sound development.
In 2011, China launched the second phase (2011–2020) of this project. It aims to, by 2020, increase new forest coverage by 5.2 million hectares, forest stock volume 1.1 billion cubic meters and carbon sink 416 million tons. As a result, soil erosion in the project areas has remarkably decreased, while biodiversity has notably increased. At the same time, employment opportunities have been provided for 648,500 people in the forest areas, which help most relocated workers shift to new jobs and realize social harmony and stability.
Since the initiation of the project in 2000, timber production in the involved forest areas has decreased by 220 million cubic meters, while the accumulative total forest coverage has increased by 10 million hectares as the result of afforestation and thus forest stock volume has a net growth by 725 million cubic meters. The shunt placement transfer provides 680000 downsized workers with new jobs, including 276000 forest rangers who used to be timber cutters.
The Grain for Green Project
In 1999, China carried out a pilot Grain for Green Project to harness soil erosion and desertification and to protect and improve eco-environment. Farming was stopped in a planned and step-by-step manner on sloping or desertified cropland in key ecological areas. In low and unstably yielded cropland which had suffered from soil erosion, salinization and stony desertification, vegetation was restored by planting trees or grasses in light of local conditions. The project was rolled out in 25 regions nationwide in 2002.
In 2014, the State Council approved The General Plan for New Round Grain for Green Project. It proposes that, by 2020, about 2.83 million hectares of sloping and seriously desertified cropland would be converted into forest or grassland, including 1.45 million hectares of sloping cropland at or over 25 degrees, 1.13 million hectares of seriously desertified cropland, 250000 hectares of sloping cropland at 15–25 degrees in Danjiangkou reservoir area and the Three Gorges reservoir area. The government also stipulates explicitly that subsidies equivalent to 3268 US dollars are provided for each hectare of cropland converted to forest, and subsidies equivalent to 1743 US dollars for each hectare of cropland converted to grassland.
Since its launch on a pilot basis in 1999, the Grain for Green Project has afforested 28.5783 million hectares, including 9.0634 million hectares converted from cropland, 16.5676 million hectares on barren hills and wasteland, and 2.9473 million hectares of hillsides closed for afforestation.
Three-North Forest Shelterbelt Development Program
In November 1978, China made a strategic decision to plant large shelterbelts in Northwest, North and Northeast China (Three-North) to mitigate drought, sandstorm and soil erosion there. 551 counties in 13 regions (including municipalities directly under the central government and autonomous regions), namely Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai and Xinjiang, were involved in this program, covering 42.4% of China’s land territory. This 73-year-long program will be implemented in three stages and eight phases. It aims to increase forest coverage ratio from 5.05% to 14.95% and forest stock volume to 4.27 billion cubic meters in the Three-North areas by 2050.
In the program, by 2015, 26.47 million hectares had been afforested, 7.35 million hectares of shelterbelt planted, and 278000 hectares of desertified land harnessed, and the trend of desertification is thus reversed; 9.67 million hectares of water and soil conservation forests and headwater conservation forests had been planted, and 150000 hectares of land undertaken soil erosion treatment had been increased. Nearly 50% of the eroded soil on the Loess Plateau had been harnessed at different degrees, so that the annual amount of mud and sand going into the Yellow River reduces by 300 to 400 million tons and the greening of the Loess Plateau is realized. 2.91 million hectares of farmland shelterbelt was planted, which ensures 72% of basic farmland under protection. The observation of China Meteorological Administration shows that ecological degradation in the Three-North areas has been initially curbed with notable ecological improvement in priority treatment areas.
Beijing-Tianjin Sandstorm Sources Harnessing Project
In 2000, a pilot Beijing-Tianjin sandstorm sources harnessing project was launched in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi and Inner Mongolia to control sandstorms frequenting the capital and surrounding locations. To eliminate the sandstorm invasion, the project has aimed to restore forest and grassland vegetation in the vicinity of Beijing by biological measures, such as protecting existing vegetation, closing hillsides for afforestation, aerial seeding, artificial afforestation, conversion of cropland to forest and grassland treatment, and engineering measures, such as comprehensive harnessing of small watershed. The second phase of the project started in 2013 and has been moving forward smoothly.
Within the 15 years from its initiation, the project has harnessed an accumulative total of 11.5259 million hectares, of which 7.9389 million hectares were controlled by forestry engineering, 2.4473 million hectares were conducted in grassland, and 1.1396 million hectares were under the comprehensive treatment of small watershed. In forestry engineering, artificial afforestation has covered 3.8573 million hectares, aerial seeding 1.0628 million hectares, and afforestation in closed hillsides 3.0188 million hectares.
Wildlife Protection and Nature Reserve Development Project
The wildlife protection and nature reserve development project came into effect in 2001 and aimed to conserve genes, protect biodiversity and nature in typical and representative natural ecosystems, natural habitats of rare and endangered wildlife, and ecologically vulnerable areas.
By the end of 2016, 2301 nature reserves at different levels for various types of forest, wetland, desert and wildlife habitat had been established. They covered 1.2553 trillion hectares, accounting for 13.07% of the total land territory of China. Among them, there are 359 national nature reserves, covering 81.38 billion hectares.
Nature reserves supervised by the forestry authorities have effectively protected China’s 90% types of land ecosystems, 85% of wild animal populations and 65% of higher plant communities, covering 20% of China’s virgin forests, 50.3% of natural wetlands and 30% of typical desert areas.
Forestry industry
Forestry in nature is a green industry, an ecological industry, a circular industry, a carbon sequestration industry, biological industry and an industry that brings cash income to people. This industry contains advantages and potentials to help China pursue green development. In recent years, forestry departments are working hard to develop ten leading industries, namely timber cultivation, woody cereal and oil crops and special cash forests, forest tourism, non-wood forest economy, bamboo industry, flowers and nursery seedlings, breeding and utilization of forest organisms and wildlife, desert industry, and forest products industry. In 2016, the total output of the forestry industry reached one trillion US dollars while the value of forest products import and export registered 134 billion US dollars.
Forest tourism
Eco-tourism as a way of green consumption has become a trend and a main part in China’s tourism industry. By the end of 2016, China had set up 3394 forest parks or forest tourism zones, 827 of which are at national level. In 2016, forest tourists totaled 1.2 billion who generated 137.9 billion US dollars in total output. Forest parks, wetland parks, desert parks and forest nature reserves employed more than 280000 people for forest tourism administration and service. Therefore the forest tourism has become the most dynamic and promising emerging industry in all the forestry industries, contributing vigorously to structural adjustment of the forest industry, employment as well as social and economic progress in forest areas.
Non-wood forest economy
Non-wood forest economy provides an important way to help farmers in mountainous and forest areas overcome poverty. Cultivation of a variety of green products, such as medicinal materials, vegetables, mushrooms, fungus and flowers as well as wood frogs, bees, fowls, livestock and wild animals, has significantly expanded the space for China’s rural economy to grow. In 2016, non-wood forest economy in China generated output of 7.71 billion US dollars and involved 57.0556 million rural households, of which 9.5628 million rural households were awarded the honorable title “Forest Household”. The fast-developing under-tree economy has delivered a strong boost to rural income growth and employment.
Reform of the collective-owned forest tenure system
The reform of the collective-owned forest tenure system was rolled out in 2008 throughout the country after the pilot schemes were practiced in Fujian and other regions. Its main tasks were to clarify the collective ownership and assign individual responsibility, delimit boundary before issuing certificates, liberalize management rights, affirm rights of disposal, and protect usufruct. The ever-improved reforms, innovations and supporting measures have motivated a huge number of farmers to develop the forestry and therefore the rural productivity has been unleashed efficiently. By 2015, the rights of 180 million hectares of land had been authorized; 6.5967 million hectares of land had been mortgaged for 29.278 billion US dollars of forest tenure loans; 114 million hectares of forests had been insured for 124.389 billion US dollars; 18.87 million hectares of collective-owned forests had been transferred; 113000 forestry cooperatives had been established with the participation of 3.39 million rural households.
Reforms of state-owned forest farms and areas
State-owned forest farms play an important role in ecological restoration and protection and serve as an essential basis to maintain ecological security of China. The country has 4855 state-owned forest farms which cover 58 million hectares of forest land and 76 million hectares of managing area. These forest farms have made huge achievements in large-scale afforestation and forest resources management, making important contributions to China’s efforts in upholding ecological security, improving people’s ecological well-being, promoting green development and dealing with climate change. However, they have for a long time been facing severe challenges in sustainable development due to their ambiguous functional position, poor administrative system, rigid management mechanism and incomplete supporting policies. In February 2015, the central government promulgated The Reform Program of State-Owned Forest Farms to speed up reforms in state-owned farms, and to encourage their sustainable development and play out their full role in ecological progress.
The reform of state-owned forest farms includes the following:
First, clearly define their ecological responsibilities. The major functions of state-owned forest farms are explicitly defined as protecting and cultivating forest resources as well as upholding national ecological security; and the nature of state-owned forest farms are clarified in line with its functions and position.
Second, separate governmental administration from public services. The autonomous legal person status of state-owned forest farms is enforced, while forestry administrative departments focus on providing macro-level guidance; Departments are simplified and merged to realize scale operation; Staffing system is established rationally in light of specific conditions and open recruitment is practiced.
Third, promote the separation of public services from the industry of state-owned forest farms. The social functions provided by farms are handed over to local governments while businesses run by farms are split to operate for marketization.
Fourth, perfect the public welfare forest managing and protecting systems through service procurement. Market mechanism is introduced into the daily managing system by service procurement through contracting and delegation.
Fifth, establish complete forest resources supervision system at different administrative levels with clearly-defined responsibilities. A forest resource property right system with distinct ownership and a well-functioning forest resources operating and administrative system should be set up.
Sixth, consummate the transfer employment mechanism and social security system for the relocated state-owned forest farm workers. They should be properly arranged based on the principles of “re-employment within the farms through multiple channels”, and “people first for ensuring stability”.
State-owned forest farms are important shields for China’s ecological security and strategic bases for cultivating forest resources. The 138 state-owned forestry bureaus manage their land in Northeast, Southwest, Northwest and Inner Mongolia. These farms play an indispensable role in economic, social and ecological progress, and make great contributions. However, the long term poor administrative system, over exploitation of forest resources and serious livelihood challenges have restrained their capacity to uphold ecological security. In order to actively explore reform pathways in the areas, better their administrative system, and further beef up their ecological functions and vigor for development, the Chinese government introduced Guidelines on the Reform of State-owned Forest Areas in February 2015.
Its main reform tasks in the state-owned forest areas involve the following:
First, commercial logging should be stopped in a prescribed orderly way in key state-owned forest areas after their specific conditions were distinguished. In reality, China had imposed a sweeping ban on commercial logging in state-owned forest areas in 2015. On the other hand, a pilot scheme on new commercial logging approach was tried steadily to comprehensively elevate forest quality and accelerate cultivation and restoration of forest resources.
Second, governmental functions should be gradually separated from enterprise management in state-owned forest areas in light of their specific local conditions. This separation should be achieved at one go in areas where the local governments have complete functions and sufficient finance; if not, this separation should be pursued in a step-by-step manner and the first step is to separate internally the administration from enterprise.
Third, the original administrative structure should be simplified following the principles of “reducing but not adding departments and staffing for harmonious and stable society” so as to form refined and capable organs for state-owned forest resources management.
Fourth, forest resources tending and protecting mechanisms should be innovated to inject new vitality into forest area development. The approaches include creative participation pattern, organization pattern, and tending and protecting model.
Fifth, the regulatory system for forest resources should be innovated. A property rights system for forest resources should be established based on well-defined ownership, clear rights and responsibilities, and effective regulation. The function of supervision should be strengthened over forest resources in forest areas. The performance management and evaluation mechanism should be established and gradually improved and off-office auditing over forest resources should be implemented.
Sixth, the responsibilities of local governments should be intensified for protecting forests and improving livelihood. Provincial governments take full responsibilities for organizing and implementing the natural forest protection project and imposing sweeping ban on commercial logging in natural forests; while local governments at all levels take overall responsibilities for economic and social development in forest areas and for forest resources protection within their jurisdictions.
Seventh, downsized workers in state-owned forest areas should be properly settled by providing them with job opportunities created amid green development; state revenue should increase its support to tend forest, improve living conditions and advance job transfer. In addition, social security insurance subsidies should be provided according to relevant policies for those who find it difficult to be employed.
Forestry legal system
The Chinese government constantly practices forestry administration by law. Since the People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949, China has established a forestry legal system centered on the Forest Law and supplemented by a series of forestry laws, regulations and rules. It has been realized that most forest-related work can be conducted according to ready laws and regulations, which therefore have made vital contribution to law-based administration and forestry modernization. Among the promulgated ten forestry laws, there are the Forest Law, the Law on the Protection of Wildlife, the Seed Law and the Law on the Prevention and Control of Desertification. The main ones of the 17 forestry administrative laws and regulations include Regulations on the Implementation of the Forestry Law, Regulation on the Protection of Terrestrial Wild Animals, Regulations on the Protection of Wild Plants, Regulations on Nature Reserves, Regulations on Protection of New Plant Varieties, Regulations on Forest Fire Prevention, Regulations on Plant Quarantine and Regulations on Forest Pest Prevention and Control; In addition, 51 forestry departmental rules have also been issued, such as Regulations on the Ownership Registration of Forest Trees and Forest Land, Regulations on Forestry Administrative Penalty Procedures and Regulations on Forestry Standardization Management. More than 400 local bylaws and regulations have also been promulgated by local people’s congresses and local government departments.
Forestry international cooperation
China has signed 97 forestry cooperation agreements with 57 countries or regional organizations by May 2017. A bilateral forestry cooperation platform has been established, covering sustainable forest management, forest resource protection and utilization, forest industry development, trade and investment, forestry scientific and technological exchanges, forest disaster prevention and control, wildlife protection, and wetland ecosystem protection. The cooperation is conducted mainly through personnel exchange, scientific and technological cooperation, and joint development. So far 67 training workshops on forest technology and management have been held for 1772 participants from 106 developing countries in Asia-Pacific, Africa and Latin America. Energetic progress has thus been made in forestry investment cooperation with the Russian Federation, and African, Southeast Asian and American countries. Chinese companies have been managing 61 million hectares of overseas forests, and dealing with more than 200 large and middle sized investment cooperative projects. For those, more than 10 billion US dollars have been invested, about 10,000 people for labor service have been exported, and 30000 jobs have been provided for the host countries.
Chinese forestry authorities have taken the lead in implementation of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat (RAMSAR), the United Nations’ Convention to Combat Desertification (in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa) (UNCCD), and UN Forest Instrument; They have also participated in the implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) and the International Plant Protection Convention (IPCC). Furthermore China has established long-term stable cooperative relations with international organizations such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), International Bamboo and Rattan Organization(INBAR), and the Global Environment Facility (GEF).Through Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), China-Arab States Cooperation Forum and China-ASEAN Expo, China has furthermore established forestry cooperation channels, hosted or facilitated the hosting by other economies of three APEC forestry ministerial conferences.
China has jointly implemented more than 100 projects with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and many other overseas non-governmental organizations (NGOs), which disseminated the concepts and practices such as forest certification, high conservation value forest, national park, patrolling for nature reserves, and constructed watershed wetland protection network; as well as introduced fast recognition technology for rare and endangered wild animals. By 2015, forestry authorities in China had established stable cooperative relations with 18 overseas NGOs and exchange relations with 45 overseas partners.
In recent years, in response to illegal logging and related trading, China has set up dialogue and exchange mechanisms with the United States, the EU, Canada and Australia. China-UK Collaboration on International Forest Investment and Trade (InFIT) in an all-round way has been started. China Timber Legality Verification Scheme (CTLVS) has been improved and bilateral and regional timber legality mutual recognition systems have been promoted and formed. China has actively participated in APEC Experts Group on Illegal Logging and Associated Trade (EGILAT) and worked with other countries in the development of country guidelines for timber legality, which promoted common understanding of timber legality in the Asia-Pacific region. For the China-invested enterprises, the Chinese government has provided training on A Guide on Sustainable Overseas Forests Management and Utilization by Chinese Enterprises.
To fight against wildlife smuggling and trafficking, China has reinforced the cooperation with wildlife range countries, transit countries and consuming countries. Under the framework of China-US Strategic & Economic Dialogue, the two countries have held dialogues and consultations on combating wildlife smuggling and trafficking. China was also an active participant in the London, Kasane and Hanoi conferences on cracking down on the crimes.
China has steadily tightened its import policy on ivory and ivory products since 2015 and has extended to the end of 2019 its complete ban on ivory and ivory products, including the imported hunting trophies that are obtained before and after the CITES takes effects; The state will put a complete end to commercial processing and sales of ivory by the end of 2017, and thus is committed to cutting demand for ivory through a series of practical actions for the global protection of elephants.
China has provided funding and equipments for Kenya and other African and Southeast Asian countries in protecting wild animals. China and other 12 tiger range countries have reached the Kunming Consensus on protecting wild tiger and other endangered species and cracking down on related smuggling and trafficking. To sum up, China is trying her best to make new contributions to sustainable utilization and protection of forests and related natural resources as well as to global ecological security.
The Author(s) 2017. Published by Higher Education Press. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)
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