China releases 2010-2020 plan for forest land protection, use
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BEIJING, Aug. 24, 2010 (Xinhua News Agency) — China’s State Administration of Forestry (SFA) on Tuesday unveiled the country’s first mid- to long-term plan for the protection and the use of forest land.
The plan, titled the National Plan for the Protection and Use of Forest Land (2010-2020), specifies China’s strategy in forest land protection and use during the next 10 years.
The formulation of the plan demonstrates the strong resolution of the Communist Party and the government to enhance ecological development and address global climate changes, said Zhang Jian Long, deputy director the SFA, said at the press briefing on Thursday. According to the plan, China will have 312.3 million hectares of forest land (including land designated for future planting) and 223 million hectares of forest by 2020.
The plan intends that more than 23 percent of the country will be covered by forest, and that forest volume will expand to over 15 billion cubic meters.
China currently has 303.78 million hectares of forest land, representing 31.6 percent of the country’s total land area. Actual forest coverage is 20.36 percent at present. China has achieved remarkable results in forest land protection and use in the past two decades. The area of artificial forest reached 61.69 million hectares in China, representing 38 percent of the world’s total and ranking top worldwide. The area of desertification has shrunk from 3,436 square km at the end of the 20th century to 1,283 square km.
Despite the achievements, China’s forest resources are still not sufficient and the challenges from degradation of forestry are great, said Wang Xun, director of the Department of Forest Resources Management (OOTC:FTRM) of the SFA. These problems are taken into consideration in the draft of the plan, he added.
According to the plan, China will restrict the change of use of forest land to construction land or farmland and make greater efforts to protect public access forests and restore damaged forest land.
It will advocate conservancy in forest land use during the development of urban and rural infrastructure and public facilities. (Edited by Wu Xiaobo, wuxb@xinhua.org)
