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Nation sees more wood for better use of trees
By Liang Chao (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-01-19 02:20
China has finally managed to satisfy its demand for timber as years of
tree-planting and commercial logging bans have paid off.
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file photo shows forest in East China's Zhejiang Province covered with
snow on December 24, 2004.
[newsphoto] | "It's out of the question for
the country to satisfy its domestic demands by increasing tree felling from
neighbouring countries," said Xiao Xingwei, head of the department of forest
resources management under the State Forestry Administration (SFA).
"Although China does still import timber from other countries, this is only a
small proportion of its total consumption," he said at a press conference
organized by the State Council Information Office.
China's total timber consumption in 2003 reached a record 228.43 million
cubic metres and the combined supply of imported and domestic-grown wood stood
at 224.13 million cubic metres, he said, quoting the latest SFA inventory of the
nation's forestry resources in the 1999-2003 period.
By 2003, China imported 25.46 million cubic metres of timber and exported
21.52 million cubic metres of wood products, according to the survey, which was
released yesterday.
Deputy Director of the SFA Lei Jiafu said China's demand and supply of timber
was pretty well balanced for the year.
He said that in the following few years, China would be able to maintain the
balance with a considerable reserved area of plantations made available for use.
The survey, the sixth national one of its kind by the SFA, China's forest
coverage has reached 18.21 per cent and 175 million hectares of its territory.
There are 12.456 billion cubic metres, including 1.585 billion cubic metres
of forests available for chopping down and 5.671 billion cubic metres of
premature trees with potential quality timber available for the foreseeable
future.
Lei was confident China will be able to meet its own demands for timber with
its existing reserves of commercial forests, including fast-growing and planted
trees.
"By 2010, such reserves will provide nearly 3 billion cubic metres of timber,
which is enough to meet the country's future demand," he said.
China's forested area increased by 15.968 million hectares, or 889 million
cubic metres in accumulation, or net increase of stock, in the 1999-2003 period,
with the forest coverage rate growing by 1.66 percentage points to reach the
current 18.21 per cent from the former 16.55 per cent, according to the survey.
Involving more than 20,000 scientists and forestry workers, the survey
adopted satellite monitoring technology to complete site surveys to investigate
China's forest acreage, accumulation, make-up, distribution, growth and
consumption and assess the forests' influence on the environment.
The current figures have not included the acreage of newly- planted trees.
China has, since 1998, launched six key projects to expand forest coverage
and rehabilitate forestry resources, including enlarging the protection of
natural forests and returning farmland to forest or grassland.
"Years later, the SFA also launched a number of strategic, high-yield
forestry production bases to ease the bottleneck between timber supply and
demand," said Lei. "Our efforts have started to pay off today."
The Chinese Government has always been firm in cracking down on the illegal
trade of timber and has improved its co-operation with neighbouring and other
lumber exporting countries by signing pacts on the protection and rational
exploitation of forest resources, as well as the fight against illegal logging
and timber trading.
"Accordingly, Chinese businesses have strictly observed local laws and
regulations in their exploitation of forest resources from overseas," said
Xiao.
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