Afforestation And Forest Management Under Climate Change in China

1. Afforestation And Forest Management Under Climate Change in China Diansheng WEI Director General Department of Afforestation State Forestry Administration Beijing, 25th September, 2008

2. Forest And Climate Change • Forest can be a sink of GHG • Forest can be a sink, by fixing CO2 from atmosphere in the form of biomass through its photosynthesis, which can mitigate the tendency of global warming • Forest can also be a source of GHG • Forest will emit GHG if it is damaged by natural disasters, such as forest fire, pest and disease, or directly human-induced destructions like illegal logging and land occupation, it can worsen the tendency of global warming • Scientific assessment indicates currently global forest in general is a source of GHG due to various reasons • Forest itself is suffering the impacts of global warming • As an unequivocal fact, climate change is affecting both positively and negatively global forest ecosystems, but negative impacts exceed the negative, which will not be reversed until mitigation measures have been taken. Therefore, it is necessary to actively take measures to adapt to the change so as to maintain the health of forest ecosystem

3. Forest Is An Important Means To Mitigate Global Warming • All previous IPCC’s assessment reports, especially, the 4th assessment report in 2007, clearly indicate that forest is an important means of mitigation of global warming, with lower cost, economical feasibility, co-benefits, which can, furthermore, be integrated with its adaptation of climate change within 30-50 years to come • To give a full play to the role of forest in addressing climate change, it is necessary to further increase carbon stocks by enlarging the scale of afforestation in scientific ways, and to improve forest quality, to maintain the health and productivity of forest ecosystem as a whole by managing forest in sustainable ways

4. Main Afforestation Practices In China • Started from the end of 20th century, namely, 1978, China speeds up its afforestation through implementing key programs, while its afforestation activities have been continuously implemented since early 1950’s • From 1978 to now, Chinese government has implemented many nation-wide forestry programs, pushing its national afforestation ahead, rehabilitating and protecting its forest effectively • Before 2002, under the guidance of the theory of watershed management , China implemented ten key forest ecological restoration programs successively, including the programs in The Three North region, middle and upper reach of Yangtze River Valley, coastal region, plain area, Taihang Mountain area, Pearl River Valley, middle reach of Yellow River, desertification control and fast-growing and high-yield timber plantation etc • After 2002，through readjusting the layout of original key programs, China newly implemented 6 key programs, including Programs on Natural Forest Protection, conversion of cropland on steep slope into forest, desertification control in the vicinity of Beijing and Tianjing, Regional shelterbelt along The Three North region, lower reach of Yangtze River Valley as well as other regions, fast-growing and high-yield timber plantation, wildlife protection • Planned afforestation area annually is 4 million ha or so on average

5. Main Incentive Policies For Afforestaion In China • With strong political will, Chinese governments attach great importance to afforestation by integrating improvement of environment through afforestation, as a long-term policy, into long-term plan of national economic and social development • Continuously implement the responsibility system for fulfilling afforestaion objectives since middle of 1980’s, requiring local governments at all levels, within its term, should establish and fulfill its afforestation plan respectively, in line with the Law of Forest • Central budget continuously gives subsidies to afforestation relevant activities, such as cultivation of seedlings and seeds, maintenance of trees etc, and provides favorable loan with interests subsided from central budget or lower interests for timber plantation. Simultaneously, based on its financial status, local governments also provide supports for afforestation within its administrative region • Actively practice compulsory tree-planting campaign. National People’s congress decided in 1981,every citizen aged above 11 years old, except the weak, old, sick and disable, should plant 3-5 trees every year, or participate cultivation of seedling and seeds, tree maintenance, or other afforestation tasks in corresponding labor . At the same time, to build up compulsory tree-planting base by governmental sectors is effectively encouraged . • Establish regulations on compensating forest ecological services, aiming at encouraging maintenance and management of existing ecological-oriented forest • Actively facilitate forest property reform in collective forest region, empowering households in the region to freely manage forest attached to the forestland property they obtained, which is motivating households’ activity of afforestation and forest protection • Drastically reduced various taxes and fees related to timber production, greatly alleviated the burden of farmers in collective forest region, also mobilized farmer’s activity of afforestation and forest protection

6. Contribution of Forest In China To Global Warming Mitigation • Forest in China shows continuous increment with unremitting efforts taken. National forested area reached 175 million ha, of which, artificially forested area reached 54 million ha, the primacy in the world. Forest coverage arrived at 18.21%，standing stock volume arrived at 13.6 billion M3. • Forest in China has sequestered huge amount of CO2. Experts estimated that, during 1980-2005, 4.68 billion tCO2e has been directly sequestered by forest, and 430 million tCO2e of GHG emission has been avoided by reducing deforestation, equivalent of 5.11 billion tCO2e if adding the two figures, actively contributing to global warming mitigation, while the initial objectives of afforestation are mainly for supplying timber and improving ecological environment in China.

7. Major Challenges In Chinese Forest Development • The difficulty of afforestation is increasing with key area for afforestaion gradually moves to arid and semi-arid region in middle and western part of China • The tasks of sustainable forest management (SFM) remains quite heavy due to poor quality of existing forest • The frequency and scale of occurrence of forest fire, pest and disease is showing increasing tendency under the backdrop of global warming • The protection of forest resources, especially, the control of irrational expropriation of officially designated forestland are in great pressures posed by social and economic development, infrastructure establishment, and urbanization etc.

8. Goals of Afforestation And Forest Management In Near Term • First, to achieve the goal of 20% of national forest cover by the end of 2010, simultaneously, to make China’s contribution to increase forest cover and to fulfill the goal of 20 million ha of increment of forested area by the end of 2020, as indicated in the Sydney APEC Leader’s Declaration, in Asian Pacific region by taking various efforts • Second, to launch A National Plan on Forest Management and to speed up implementation of the plan by focusing on key ecological-oriented forest. Within 15 years, to complete the total tasks of 12 million ha of thinning for tending, improvement thinning and replacement of low yielding tree crop of existing forest and half of the total planned tasks will be completed through complementary planting and improvements. The fulfillment of the tasks will be conducive to optimizing the structure, improving its quality, enhancing biodiversity of key ecological-oriented forest stand, and increasing or maintaining its forestland productivity

9. Approaches To Promote Afforestation And Forest Management • First, to facilitate Chinese afforestation and forest management by trying to apply the theory of ecosystem management • Second, to continuously advance nation-wide afforstation through implementing key programs, further expanding forested area and accelerating the development of urban forest • Third, to fully implement the Program on National Forest Management as quickly as possible. To enforce the National Guideline on SFM, to improve adaptation capacity of Chinese forest by stepping up SFM with focus on building up healthy forest. To the end，all the efforts will improve the potential of its carbon sequestration and capacity of timber supply of forest as well as ameliorate ecological environment in China • Fourth, to keep the strength of afforestation subsidies by central and local budget, further to enlarge the scale of compensation of ecological-oriented forest and to strive for the financial supports to SFM by central and local budget • Fifth, to actively strengthen the cooperation in forest rehabilitation and SFM with countries in Asian and Pacific Region and beyond. To effectively encourage oversea Chinese enterprises to launch forest-cultivating projects in the countries where their businesses are located by following the Guide on Sustainable Overseas Silviculture by Chinese Enterprises, which was promulgated last year, and to actively share the lessons and experiences in forest rehabilitation and SFM with countries in Asian and Pacific region

10. Thank You !