China Logging Ban to Cause Shortage by 2000

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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

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Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises

http://forests.org/

10/10/98

OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY by EE

China has recently realized that maintaining forest ecological systems

is vital for the environment, as well as economies and societies that

ultimately depend upon ecosystems. The new forest conservation ethic

bears watching however. The following article predicts a yearly

Chinese shortfall of 45 million cubic meters of timber by 2000. China

is expected to sharply increase imports of hardwood from the United

States, Canada, Russia, Southeast Asia and West Africa. It is

critical that China not be allowed to import timber while exporting

forest destruction and global ecological decline.

China, and the World, must face up to the fact that the world's

forests have been, and are being, overexploited. There are no more

virgin tracts of forests that are suitable for logging at a scale and

intensity as has been historically practiced. For forest ecosystems

to be maintained and regenerated, while continuing to provide their

critical ecological and economic services; a new paradigm must emerge

which emphasizes plantations, restoration ecology, certified

management of secondary forests, sustainable community forestry, and

preservation of remaining ancient forests. It is no longer acceptable

to overexploit one forest and then expect to move to another.

g.b.

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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:

Title: China Logging Ban to Cause Shortage by 2000

Source: Reuters

Date: October 1, 1998

BEIJING - China's crackdown on excessive logging is expected to spark

a shortfall of 45 million cubic metres of timber by 2000, the Economic

Information Daily said on Wednesday.

China expected it would need about 110 million cubic metres of timber

in 2000 but domestic supply would be no more than 65 million cubic

metres, the newspaper said.

The Chinese government has banned logging along major rivers in its

central and northeastern regions as part of a large-scale refores

ation plan to cope with the worsening floods.

Authorities have increasingly acknowledged the role logging along

China's major waterways has played in contributing to this year's

devastating floods, which killed more than 3,000 people and caused at

least 166 billion yuan in damage.

China's forests cover 87.26 million hectares (215.6 million acres), or

nine percent of its territory, but if left unchecked, logging

threatened to wipe out all of its forests within 10 years, experts

have said.

The closure of timber mills along the Yangtze and Yellow rivers and in

northeastern China would cut natural forest output by 12 million to 15

million cubic metres, accounting for about a quarter of total current

annual output, the paper said.

Timber markets in Sichuan province were completely closed, boosting

wood prices in southwestern China and causing prices in the Beijing

wood market to rise by 20-30 percent, it added.

To boost timber output, China has decided to set up commercial forest

bases in other areas, the paper said.

China would also sharply increase imports of hardwood from the United

States, Canada, Russia, Southeast Asia and West Africa, it said.

The government planned to cut tariffs on foreign timber to boost

imports, and would dispatch lumberjacks and equipment to set up

lumberyards in other countries, it said.

China consumed about 90 million cubic metres of timber in 1997,

including 55 million cubic metres of domestically harvested wood, it

said.

China imported about 53 million cubic metres of timber and exported 15

million cubic metres, it said.

($1.0 = 8.3 yuan)

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