China'sgarbage【China’s,Forestry,Eyes,Sustainable,Development】

　　 China’s forestry has maintained sustainable development, providing sound ecological guarantee and material base for sustainable socio-economic development, said an official at a press conference in Beijing on June 4.
　　“China plays an important role in the global course of sustainable forestry development. Since the United Nations Conference on Environmental Development (UNCED) in 1992, China’s forestry has been developing rapidly,” said Yin Hong, deputy administrator of China State Forestry Administration.
　　Now the outputs of resin, wood-based panels, bamboo and rattan furniture, and wood flooring rank the first in the world and forest ecotourism; the woody grain and oil sector are growing fast. Between 1993 and 2011, the gross output value of the forestry sector reached RMB 15.3 trillion, with the annual output value up from RMB 99.4 billion in 1993 to RMB 2.83 trillion in 2011, or a 20 percent growth annually on average.
　　During the same period, the trade volume of forest products increased from $7.5 billion to $116 billion, which makes China a major country for forest product production, processing and trade. Every year the forestry industry creates jobs for more than 45 million farmers, accounting for 37.5% of the surplus rural workforce, which has effectively promoted the regional development and farmers’ livelihood in the rural areas.
　　The forestry ecology construction has contributed to these achievements. Since 1992, especially in the new century, the Chinese government has increased financial support for the forestry sector, which amounts to RMB 1 trillion. A series of national key ecological development programs have been implemented, such as the Natural Forest Protection Program (NTPP) and the Conversion of Slope Farmland to Forest Program (CCSFP). The government also carries out the National Voluntary Tree Planting Campaign, and enhances forest resource management and biodiversity protection.
　　Despite the continuous downturn of the global forest resources, China has achieved increases of its forest cover and the stocking volume: the forested area has increased from 134 million hectares in 1992 to the current 195 million hectares, the forest cover from 13.92 percent to 20.36 percent, the forest stocking volume from 10.1 billion cubic meters to 13.7 billion cubic meters. The area of forest plantations stands at 61.68 million hectares, ranking first in the world; the total carbon stock reaches 7.811 billion tons, providing ecological service at an annual value of RMB 10 trillion.
　　Meanwhile, the rate of desertification has been reduced from an annual expansion of 3,436 sq km at the end of the last century to the current annual reduction of 1,717 sq km.
　　Moreover, the government is deepening forestry reform. By 2011, the government has contracted 178 million hectares, or 97.8% of the collective forests, to the rural households. The reform of the supporting mechanisms, including the forest insurance, collateral loans and compensation for public forests, has been improved to protect the ecosystems and benefit the farmers. Over 400 million farmers have participated in and benefited from forest cultivation. Meanwhile, the government has been exploring reform of the State-owned forest farms and public forest areas, to innovate forestry development mechanisms, strengthen the dynamics and attraction of forestry development, and further liberate and increase productivity of the forestry sector.
　　Besides, China’s forestry is also opening up for the global sustainable forestry development. Since 1992, China, in accordance with international conventions, has established cooperative relations with dozens of countries and related international organizations and signed 74 bilateral agreements with foreign governments or government agencies, and launched with other countries two intergovernmental organizations. An all-round pattern of international forestry cooperation that covers numerous numbers of fields at different levels has been initially in place.
　　However, “Despite the achievements in China’s forestry development in the past two decades, we still face great challenges such as the mismatch between ecological carrying capacity and the needs of national economic growth, fragile overall functions of the forest ecosystem and the conflict between supply and demand of major forest products,” said Yin.
　　Current global challenges facing the mankind, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, poverty, water shortage, and depletion of renewable energy, are all closely related to forestry. To meet these challenges in an effective manner, it requires enhancing the political will for forestry development, increasing investment, innovating policies and market measures, Yin added.
　　The government will continue to increase investment in forestry to strengthen cultivation of forests, protect and rehabilitate wetlands, combat land desertification, protect wild fauna and flora and their habitats, and continue to deepen forestry reform and opening up to the outside world, Yin said.
　　By 2020, the forest area in China is expected to increase 40 million hectares, the stocking volume 1.3 billion cubic meters on the 2005 basis; half of the 530,000 sq km of the desertified land will be under control; the area of nature reserves will increase 17 million hectares.