Report
Overview of Responsible Forestry and Trade in China
China is a major player in the global forest products market, both as a producer and consumer. China¡¯s market for industrial timber, pulp, and paper is the second largest in the world, outranked only by the massive US market. It has relatively limited forest resources and a great potential for increases in consumption of wood and paper products.
China's domestic wood production rates have been in decline since 1995. In many regions, decades of over exploitation of natural forests have depleted standing wood volumes. Logging bans and restrictions, introduced in the wake of the devastating 1998 Yangtze River floods, have cut production further, particularly in the few regions where forests remain relatively well-stocked with timber. Although the maturation of domestic forest plantations will help to bridge the gap between domestic supply and demand, China is likely to continue to face a severe shortage of wood in the coming decades. Imports have expanded dramatically, and may continue to expand, to meet demand.
China's expanding demand for wood is stimulating forest enterprise in many diverse regions outside China. In regions with sound governance and a well-managed permanent forest estate, revenues from forest product exports to China may come without significant environmental cost. If China transfers its timber sourcing to such regions, and away from unsustainable and erosion-causing domestic production, it may reduce its net footprint. However, in frontier regions with poor forest governance, increased exports to China may result in a larger ecological footprint in the form of migratory logging and indiscriminate forest clearing.
Currently the majority of timber imports into China originate in countries with very significant problems, such as illegal logging and forest crimes, loss of natural forest to agriculture and silviculture, and loss of biodiversity, including threats to highly endangered species such as elephants and tigers, gorillas and orangutans. China is a major importer from Russia, Indonesia and Central Africa, all countries where the majority of timber exported has been illegally harvested or exported.
In addition to its expanding role as an importer, China is increasingly exporting wood in value-added products. Thus, a growing share of China's wood imports represents the ecological footprint of end-consumers in other countries.
Government agencies, academics and forest experts in China are currently working to develop standards and systems for certification in China. Under new regulations these will need the approval of China's National Accreditation Committee. To attain market credibility, they will also need to satisfy the demands of international stakeholders for performance-based social and environmental standards, independent assessment and transparency.
Forest certification offers China a means to move beyond the 1998 logging ban imposed country-wide by the central government after the 1998 floods. The ban encompasses natural forests in much of the country, and contributes toward the establishment of a sustainable domestic forest industry. It is also a means to slow China's rapidly growing environmental footprint caused by demand for unsustainably sourced timber from other countries, hastening forest destruction in those nations.