Forestry in China

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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’.

Conservation Projects

• China's forests are threatened by logging, hunting and lack of conservation

Amanda McBride Philip Rothrock Ben Martinez Benny Karl