According to the latest forestry resources survey conducted by
the State Forestry Administration, the forest coverage rate in
China has increased from 8.6 percent in the early 1950s to the
current 16.55 percent and its forest storage amount has increased
from 10.8 billion to 11.27 billion cubic meters.
However, the country’s forest development is still facing four
major challenges – deficiency in total amount, unbalanced
structures, contradiction between demand and supply, and severe
devastation.
Not only the total amount of forest resources in China is
deficient, the function of forest ecology has not been given full
play either. Only 159 million hectares of land out of 263 million
hectares designated for forestry are covered by trees, accounting
for 60.37 percent; storing of standing forests per hectare is only
78.06 cubic meters on average, and for artificial forests, the
figure stands at just 34.76 cubic meters; canopy density of
standing forests is 0.54 on average, of which some 20 percent
standing forests has a canopy density of 0.2-0.3. All of the above
statistics reflect that China’s forests have not yet formed a
stable eco-system, posing a difficulty for terrestrial eco-system
to function.
In addition, the forest structures, involving distribution, age
of stand, categories, and varieties, are seriously unbalanced.
Forest coverage rate of 11 provinces in eastern China’s coastal
area is 26.59 percent, while the figure in western China’s 11
provinces is 9.06 percent, of which, it is only 3.34 percent in the
five northwestern provinces; in respect to age of stand, 71.1
percent of standing forests is young and middle-aged; compared with
timber forests, the proportion of protective forests is quite
small, which has limited the forest industry’s diversified
benefits; and the tree varieties are monotonous, with masson pines,
China firs, and poplars accounting for about 58.8 percent of the
national artificial forests.
Increasing social demands put forestry management and
administration under great pressure. On one hand, the contradiction
between supply and demand of forest products becomes more and more
serious, with natural supply provided by the current forest
recourses satisfying only 40 percent of actual demand; on the other
hand, the demand for more diversified benefits out of forests is
increasing too, along with the development of society, economy and
environmental protection.
The situation of forest resources devastation is still severe.
In 2002, relevant forestry department carried out nationwide
inspection tours to check the timber-cutting quota in 34 counties
and to examine the requisition of forestlands in 202 counties. The
results showed that 17.6 percent of the inspected units conducted
exceeding cuts of timbers and 12.5 percent had illegal requisition
of forestlands; every year, 562,000 hectares of forestlands were
reversed to non-forestlands on average. Meanwhile, non-licensed
timber transportation and illegal trade and production of timber
form another threat to China’s forest resources.
(China.org.cn by Zhang Tingting, October 23, 2003)