Maoism damaged China's forests by efforts to boost steel production through backyard, wood-burning smelters during the Great Leap Forward of the late 1950s and by 'grain is the backbone' policies that sought to maximise the land area sown to food crops. The country's slivers of tropical rain forest in Hainan island and southern Yunnan Province were also pared away by the development of rubber plantations. By 1980, forest coverage had fallen to 12% of the national land area. The great majority of remaining, primary forest stood in far western provinces whose remoteness from major centres of population and industry had presented some barrier to extraction.

In the 'reform and opening' period, the central government began a number of large (re)afforestation schemes, such as a massive, 'three north' (三北) shelterbelt project, to protect major watersheds. However, these plantations generally used only a small number of fast-growing tree species that do not support as much biodiversity, or retain as much water, as primary forests. Restrictions on access of local people to newly forested areas, and the lack of community management mechanisms, also precipitated illegal cutting for domestic use—particularly in steep and inaccessible that are the hardest to regenerate and, because remote, the safest to plunder. Survival rates of trees were therefore relatively low. Meanwhile, logging of primary forests continued apace, overseen by local bureaus of the State Forestry Administration itself, which at this time did as much to extract as to conserve forestry resources. Some county governments in remote areas derived nearly all of their revenue from logging. Nevertheless, according to official statistics the total amount of forest cover did progressively increase; but greater quantity did not mean greater environmental quality, because the new growth was of relatively low ecological value.

By the 1990s, the central government was considering a complete ban on logging of primary forest. These plans were greatly accelerated by particularly severe floods in 1998, which were widely attributed to upstream deforestation and soil erosion. Then premier, Zhu Rongji, announced the rapid phasing-in of a ban on logging primary forests. At the same time, a sloping land conversion program was introduced and rapidly scaled up. (Also known in English as the 'grain-to-green' program, in Chinese this is called huigeng tuanlin—会更团林). Under this program, farmers were given grain subsidies, saplings, and a small amount of cash compensation to plant trees on slopes with a gradient of more than 25% and on which they had previously been growing other crops. Although this was initially envisaged as a voluntary, pilot scheme, it was rapidly adopted on a wide scale, with provinces being set (and passing on to counties) quotas for land to be converted. Implementation of this program has undoubtedly varied substantially from place to place, and there has not yet been a clear and comprehensive assessment of its impact. Certainly, the area planted to trees has grown—but in most cases these are 'economic trees' (fruit, nuts, etc), and it is not clear whether these will provide long-term, sustainable incomes, or simply result in glutted niche markets. Nor is it clear how long the state will provide subsidies for farmers taking land out of arable production.

The logging ban appears to have been largely effective, although there are some reports of continued, illegal harvesting. However, reduction of local supply has caused the local timber industry—which processes building and flooring materials and furniture for use in China and many international markets—to turn elsewhere. Recent reports by UK-based NGOs, Global Witness and the Environmental Investigation Agency, have pointed to large-scale deforestation in, respectively, Indonesia and Burma, in order to illegally supply the China industry. (Synopses can be found on this site, using the search engine). Not only Chinese manufacturers but also Chinese logging companies are implicated in the latter case. There has also been a surge of timber imports from Canada and Russia.

Over the last few years, in response to these concerns and also driven by interest in 'corporate social responsibility,' there has been much talk about introducing forestry certification schemes to China, but so far little solid progress.

Further reading in English

China's Wood Market, Trade and the Environment by WWF.
Deforestation in China by Peili Shi and Jintao Xu.
Deforestation and Desiccation in China: A Preliminary Study by Wang Hongchang.
China: From Afforestation to Poverty Alleviation and Natural Forest Management by the World Bank.
China’s Forest Policy for the 21st Century
International Workshop On China's Model Forest Network Program

International Groups

Forests and Trade Asia – maintains a portal on forests and trade.
Working Group on Forest Certification in China hosted on the WWF site.

Updated: November 15, 2005