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How to sustain large-scale, rapid-fire forest
rehabilitation programs: The Chinese challenge
Background
Of the 256 M ha designated
as forest land, roughly 38% is degraded shrub, barren, cutover
or burnt land. Livelihood pressures on these lands and remaining
forests are high. The 11 tropical to subtropical provinces hold
47.1 M ha of the degraded forest land with Sichuan and Yunnan
having the largest areas. China faces a massive shortage of wood
to feed its industrial and local needs and there has also been
much concern about ecological disasters such as flooding brought
about by severe deforestation in upper watersheds. All of this
has brought about logging restrictions in remaining natural forests,
and massive reforestation efforts throughout the country as part
of national and provincial programs since the 1970s.
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| Past
and ongoing rehabilitation initiatives
In the past, rehabilitation efforts in China were largely focused
on development of fast growing, high yielding timber plantations.
The 1980s onward also saw the development of numerous national forest
development programs driven by ecological disasters such as severe
sandstorms, flooding and the threat of increasing desertification.
Since 1981, there have also been many reforestation projects at
the local levels as well with the introduction of the Household
Responsibility system with private use rights over degraded forest
lands.
Rehabilitation projects in the past 40-50 years
have been mainly government sponsored national efforts with large
budgets, large target areas and to be implemented in very short
time spans. A serious problem has been the inability to adequately
plan for and mobilize the institutional and financial resources
required for such large-scale implementation. Also environmental,
livelihood, and productivity outcomes as well as long-term sustainability
of these efforts are unclear. |
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Distribution
of shrub, bare, cutover, burnt forest lands in the 11 tropical to
subtropical provinces of China
Source: Kuushan et al. 1997 |
Sample of projects
| Project |
# years |
Target coverage |
Funding agency |
Executing agency |
Targeted beneficiaries |
Expenses USD |
| National afforestation program 1990-97 |
7 |
16 provinces, 985000 ha |
World Bank and Government |
Ministry of Forestry |
|
300 + 200 million |
| Forestry development in poor areas 1998-2005 |
7 |
12 provinces mostly in the South, 545000 ha
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World Bank and Government |
Provincial governments |
Poor people, general public |
200 + 140 million |
| Fast growing & High yielding timber forest development Program
1991-current |
10 + |
Nation wide |
Government and foreign donor |
Government |
Wood industry |
448 million 1991 -2000 |
| Grain for Green program 2000-07 |
8 |
NationWide. 52 M ha |
Central Government mainly |
Government, farmers |
General public, small farmers |
229 million in 2000 |
| National compulsory tree planting campaign1981-current |
20 + |
Nation wide, 568000 ha 1981-99 |
Government |
Government, individuals |
General public |
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| Establish vegetation cover on gully erosion lands in eastern Guangdong
1995-2000 |
5 |
2 counties |
Guangdong government |
Guangdong Forest Bureau |
Farmers, local people |
100,000 |
Sources: SFA, World Bank, RITF
Key constraints
and challenges
Institutional and socio-economic constraints including lack of market
and tenure security, inappropriate taxes and regulations, and lack of
socio-economic incentives for long term sustainability constitute some
of the biggest challenges to forest resource development and management.
Technical design and ecological requirements have also not been given
adequate attention.
China has recently expanded its focus from largely timber
plantation forestry to ecological conservation and is looking for ways
and incentives to ensure longer-term sustainability of its rehabilitation
efforts. It is critical to draw together lessons from past projects, reviews,
and research to identify the most promising approaches (technical and
socio-economic) and incentives under different scenarios.
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