Country Profile

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.

Certification in China

Over the course of several years, Chinese forest certification has made great progress.

The concept of certification was first introduced in the 1990s. The Chinese government commenced activities related to certification in 2001 when the Division of Forest Certification was incorporated into the State Forest Administration (SFA). The main task of the Division of FC is to develop National Forest Certification Standards in China that are suitable for China and at the same time are recognized internationally. The process has included private sector groups, including international companies that source wood products from China, such as IKEA.

In 2003, the Chinese government issued a high level directive aimed at strengthening the contribution of the forest sector to China's sustainable development while recognizing the need for ecological services provided by forests. Clause 12 of the so-called "A Resolution on Accelerating Forest Development " calls for the opening of the forest sector to foreign investment and the acceleration of forest certification to meet international standards as soon as possible. Clause 17 calls for the establishment of a certification scheme to verify that ecological forests are being managed to provide ecological services (Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and China State Council 2003).

National Working Group on Forest Certification
In 2001, WWF China helped establish the National Working Group on Forest Certification (FC) with 28 representatives from the government, NGOs, enterprises, media, research institutions and trade organizations. The main task of the Working Group is to put forward strategies for FC development in China. In 2003, it submitted a report titled "Suggestions on Developing Forest Certification in China" to the Leading Group on Forest Certification, State Forestry Administration of China (SFA).

The report highlighted the urgent need to establish forest certification in China and proposes policy suggestions regarding the development of China's FC Scheme, the enhancement of the government's role, the formulation of relevant policies and regulations, the start-up of FC pilot projects, the reinforcement of FC research and publicity and more.

A draft version of Chinese Forest Certification Standard has since been completed, and a review is now in process to ensure it satisfies the requirements of national laws, regulations and policies, while also meeting Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) requirements. A Chinese Chain of Custody (CoC) standard is also in development.

International Organizations Supporting Certification in China
Many international organizations actively support forest certification in China. For example, World Bank/WWF Alliance has worked to strengthen Chinese forest certification capability through trainings and seminars, In addition, international investment agencies (such as the World Bank) and companies (such as IKEA) have also pushed for forest certification.

At present, the main certification bodies accredited by FSC in China are SGS, Smartwood and the GFA Consulting Group.