Forestry in China: Difference between revisions
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[[Environmental Economics Sp 08]] | [[Mexico: Trade and the Environment]] | [[Recycling]] | [[Local Recycling Policies]] | [[Urban Sprawl]] | [[Trade and the Environment]] | [[Optimist Pessimist Debate]] | [[Forestry in China]] | [[Environmental Economics Sp 08]] | [[Mexico: Trade and the Environment]] | [[Recycling]] | [[Local Recycling Policies]] | [[Urban Sprawl]] | [[Trade and the Environment]] | [[Optimist Pessimist Debate]] | [[Forestry in China]] | ||
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Revision as of 14:39, 29 April 2008
Environmental Economics Sp 08 | Mexico: Trade and the Environment | Recycling | Local Recycling Policies | Urban Sprawl | Trade and the Environment | Optimist Pessimist Debate | Forestry in China
Forestry in China
Forestry
Forestry is the husbandry of forests; caring for, cultivating, and developing. Forestry also involves the management and growing of timber (Webster).
Introduction to the People’s Republic of China
The land area of China is approximately 9.6 million square kilometers ranging from tropical in the south to sub-arctic to the north. It is about one-fourteenth of the global land area (CIA). As of April 2008, China is home to 1,330,044,605 people and is still rapidly growing (CIA). This increase in population has negatively impacted the environment, especially agriculture lands and forests.
Types of forests
Historically China’s forest formed a continuous range from tropical monsoon rain forest in the south to montane coniferous forest in the north (Richardson). These forests have now become segmented and vary throughout the regions. The types of forests are:
Northern Coniferous Forest
Mixed Coniferous and Deciduous Broad-leaved Forest
Deciduous Broad-Leaved Forest
Mixed Deciduous and Evergreen Broad-Leaved Forest
Evergreen Board-Leaved Forest
Tropical Monsoon Rain Forest
Forest Steppe
Steppe
Desert and Semidesert
Historical Perspective
There has been a strong basis in forestry in China’s past. Tree plantings began as early as 220 BC and continued with commercial planting in the sixth century AD. The a traditional type of forestry, “Four Side” forestry, planting a diversity of trees along roads, houses, canals, and fields, was taking place for hundreds of years. Even with such a strong history in forest plantings there have been timber shortages for hundreds of years. The more current wars and political disruption of the 20th century had an even harder impact on China’s forests. Since approximately the 1930s wars and resource exploitation has limited forest regeneration and the forests still have not recovered. After the political turnover in 1949 when Mao Zedong took over and the People’s Republic of China was formed land rehabilitation projects began. Afforestation projects to control wind, prevent erosion, and improving agriculture productivity continued into the 1960s. The implementation of multiple Five Year Plans (FYP) in the late 1950s earmarked most investments for industrial growth, limited agriculture and creating famine (Richardson). A cropland expansion during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) cleared large tracts of natural forest, and then state owned forests were cleared for the use at state owned sawmills. By 1978 most of China’s forests were already depleted covering only 8.6 % of China’s total land area. This area has now increased to 18.6 percent, but the average country’s forest cover is 34 percent. This increase in forestland began in 1978 when collective forests began to be managed by individual households and now collectives, of which individual households manage 80 percent, own only 60 percent of forest. The Three North Forest Protection Project or the Green Great Wall, began in 1978, and focused on reforestation to decrease desertification and wind erosion. The initiative continued into the 1980s promoting afforestation. The beginning of the 1980 was marked by more forest loss due to harvesting. By the late 1980s there was a slight increase in reforestation. There were major changes in forest stand structure, species composition, and stand size. Most forests are single species and no longer diverse. The stands are also much smaller and fragmented. For the past 20 years the Forest Ministry has implemented major reforms in forest protection, such as amending the ‘Forest law of the People’s Republic of China’.
Reasons for Deforestation
• Clearance to make room for farming and settlement • Building houses, industries, royal residences, and infrastructure o In the 1800’s it was not uncommon for one tree to be used to make one coffin o Trees were used to build ships in the Qing Dynasty . • Fuel for domestic and industrial uses o As early as the 1800’ many industries like the copper industry clear-cut many forests and acknowledged their scarcity especially in the hills as one historian remarked “Rarer, too, their timber grew, and rarer still and rarer, As the hills resembled heads now shaven clean of hair. For the first time, too, moreover, they felt an anxious mood That all their daily logging might not furnish them with fuel” 37, 9. It is acknowledged in historical documents that mountains were commonly deforested. Historically China like Europe experienced large amounts of deforestation. The original Chinese core culture was somewhat hostile to forests and thought that for civilization to be established the forests of the surrounding area needed to be removed. Various Chinese dynasties have thought it their right to cut down trees, but some cultural traditions like Buddhism has helped to protect tracts of forests surrounding monastic temples. Transitions from being a state planned socialist economy to a state-interventionist capitalist economy along with sustained growth and social stratification has put serious pressure on the evnrionment. China’s population has been growing rapidly since 1949 and doubled to more than a billion in 1987. This has put increasing amount of pressure on China’s natural recourses as more and more food is required to feed the growing population. In order to accommodate increasing demand for food peasants have increased economies of scale by using slash and burn agricultural techniques. As a result, many of the forest recourses are wasted and much of the forest cover has been permanently destroyed. Certain areas are more threatened by deforestation than others and certain areas are worth more to protect than others. There is an uneven distribution of forests to the Northeast in the Heilongjiang and jilin provinces as well as in the Southwest provinces of Sichuaun and Yunnan. Local farmers who have a commercial stake in long-term wellbeing of the forested hillsides generally protect the forests than better those communities that use forests primarily for foraging for firewood. Some of the largest forests in the Northeast provinces are being deforested the fastest mainly due to burning. Also other areas like Jilin province are experiencing large deforestation in the mountains.
Impacts of Deforestation
The roots of the trees no longer anchor the soil on mountain-sides, which causes soil erosion resulting sediment being washed downstream. Five billion tons of soil is washed away each year, which has comparable fertility to 40 million tons of fertilizer. The leaf litter also, provides a filter for rainwater, which limits the amount that goes into the irrigation systems. The Yellow River has historically been deforested increasing erosion. o Erosion has increased the amount the sediment deposits in the Yellow River floodplain, which has created the need for man-made levies and has increased the intensity of flooding of the river. o Deforestation also causes more flooding and drought, because without the interception of rain melt by mountain forests the winter melt would flood once rather than gradually, which can be problematic for irrigation because it does not spread the rain water evenly across the year.
Where timber is planted for periodic renewal, it is often felled on a wholesale basis so that vast areas are cut at the same time leaving the ground once again perilously stripped. Changes in forest cover can also impact microclimates by minimizing rainfall, because evapotranspiration and shadow cover of the trees can help increase rainfall. Deforestation has been attributed to reducing malaria incidence, because it reduces the habitat of woodland loving malaria-carrying mosquitos. China’s solution to its deforestation problem has largely addressed by its reforestation programs around the country. In fact every year one million hectares of land experiences serious land erosion. According to the China Daily's summary, every year China has an average of 950sq miles of vegetated land deteriorates into desert. In the Yellow River region there used to be all primary forests 2,500 years ago but now its almost all secondary growth. Land use and deforestation varies widely across China making each terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem different and have different vulnerability. Every year, an average of 2,460sq km [950sq miles] of vegetated land in China deteriorates into desert and another one million hectares of land suffers from serious land erosion. Asia News calls China the black hole of deforestation in Asia. Explaining that the Chinese market imports more than 50% of timber from countries where illegal logging is rife and where deforestation is destroying the lives of the "poorest communities in the world.” Around 70% of all timber imported to China, the largest consumer in the world, was converted into furniture, plywood and other processed products for export. Beijing has captured 33 per cent of the global furniture trade over the past eight years, and the thriving business, coupled with its domestic demand for paper and wood products, is devastating forests and forest communities around the world.
Governments Priorities
o Water conservancy; afforestation, reforestation, and forest protection ; pollution control; pest control; birth planning; and other issues with greater immediate economic and health impact are considered more important than wildlife protection and wildlife preserves. Not all areas have historically been forested and do not necessarily benefit from having forested cover. o Reforestation has resulted in the replanting of monocultures, particularly bamboo in the Mountains of the Southeastern China, which provides a large percentage of household income8. These monocultures do not provide high ecosystem value for wildlife and do not have nearly as many ecological benefits as do broadleaf forests. Bamboo groves have historically been cultivated and considered culturally pleasing. o The Renmimbi Plan (800 million dollars)- protected 60 million hectares of upstream forest under protection and began a major replanting program on deforested hillsides. o Tree planting day done since 1981 35bn trees have been planted. o Shanghai now boasts of its success in having transplanted 70,000 mature trees from its suburbs and from neighbouring provinces. They include magnolias weighing ten tons and aged between 80 and a hundred years old, transported up to 700km from Anhui province. Another 150,000 trees, says the city's gardening bureau, will be imported in the next two years. o Tibet, where an experimental project has been launched to seed parts of the plateau by helicopter with grass and shrubs as well as trees. People are becoming more aware that in the headwaters of the river systems a mixed cover is more efficient. Even if this works, the benefits should be set against exploitation of timber elsewhere in Tibet - a balance sheet which for political reasons is difficult to strike. It is an uphill task in both senses of the phrase. There are, however, encouraging signs of a greater understanding on the need to plant and maintain trees on a long-term basis, says the CPPCC expert. Tree planting, after all, has deep roots in Chinese culture. o The Chinese government has also decided to impose a special tax on chopsticks and wood panels, used in all restaurants in the country. "For their production, more than 1.3 million cubic metres of wood are used," said the Chinese Finance Minister. "
Governmental Regulation
The degradation of the forest’s in China are partially attributed to the national mindset that nature is regarded as a restraint that can be mastered or overcome, instead of something that is to be preserved and accommodated for. The creation of the National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA) in China was made in order to create and enforce environmental protection laws in China. As of the late 1980s, the NEPA has increased its actions toward helping the environment. The national consensus is that humans have been in many cases negatively impacting their environment. However, at the provincial level conflicting objectives and corruption severely weaken the effectiveness of the environmental protection laws. Many of China’s environmental problems, mainly air and water pollution, are both highly accelerated by deforestation rates. Somehow, even with the recent increased measures of the government to promote environmental sustainability, deforestation has fallen under the government’s radar. State owned enterprises (SOEs) are much more friendly to the environment than the so-called township and village enterprises (TVEs). TVEs take down forests at unprecedented rates to clear land for factories and facilities while the government carefully is able to regulate the SOEs. Since the 70s, when environmental laws were beginning to surface, the rate of logging China’s forests in order to meet the demands for factory and construction materials rapidly accelerated. In addition, the more rural and poor Chinese will participate in illegal logging operations personally justified by feelings of a growing economic inequality and lack of opportunity. With China’s population rapidly increasing, their rate of deforestation is occurring at unsustainable rates. By the mid-1990s officials have reported that over one quarter of their forest bureaus had exhausted their reserves and one half reported that their trees were being felled at unsustainable rates given the rising population size. Also, by the same time 37 of the 135 forest bureaus reported deficits in timber production and financial earnings/resources. Currently, China is importing trees or purchasing territory in places like Canada, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Russia in order to outsource some of their logging necessities. This action may begin to create the same problems elsewhere. In addition, millions of dollars are no longer being pumped into the Chinese economy and the government can no longer collect taxes on domestically produced timber. The fact that timber prices have risen 30% is also unsettling.
Flooding
In 1998, flash-flooding occurred across China and cost $20 billion in damage. The devastation of floods has grown over the past 10 years, and the government formally blamed the flooding on deforestation in the upper reaches of the major river systems and as a result created the Natural Forest Conservation Project (NFCP). The goals of NFCP were to accomplish the following: plant trees for soil and water protection, restore natural forests in ecologically sensitive areas, protect existing natural forests from excessive logging, and develop high-productivity forest plantations.
However, with the benefits for the environment comes a high monetary price. In just a 10 year period, from 2000-2010, the planned budget of the NFCP is $12 billion. The NFCP has already increased China’s mature forests by 16 million hectares. However, restoring the forest age structure will take a long time and the current restrictions expire in 13 years. The policies need to extend for a longer period of time to ensure sustainability for the future generations.
Dam Creation
The creation of giant Xiaolangdi dam which will be the second largest after the creation of Yangtze's Three Gorges dam works is feared to increase the demand for timber will put major pressures on other endangered forests in Asia.
Reforestation Programs
Reforestation programs and policies will also help restore the degraded land, reduce soil erosion, and perhaps can reduce carbon emissions. Recent studies conducted by the Chinese government have showed that the afforestation efforts have yielded carbon sequestration. The government even plans to use the calculated sequestration amounts in their total carbon reduction for the Kyoto protocol. Currently there is a forest ban influencing the Chinese job market. Approximately 1.2 million jobs are going to be lost as a direct result of the ban and another 12 million indirectly. The government is going to have to spend 22 billion US dollars in the next 13 years to reemploy the jobless.
Challenges
Even when the new planting is properly maintained, it will most likely take decades before it can produce the same climatic benefits as the timber which it has replaced In comparison with Europe, China has a much a larger population and has had much more intensive agricultural practices considering its large dependence on rice. These two factors have made regeneration more difficult for China Unlike some European countries, late imperial China did not possess any new imperial oversea recourses, which it could draw upon if it fully exploited its recourses using traditional methods.
References
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