Module 5 - China: Commercial Plantations to help Conserve Forests

In China, the forest sector is critical to rural livelihoods, supplying 40 percent of rural household energy as well as raw material for construction projects and the pulp and paper industry. Wood supply is limited, with forest cover of only 0.13 hectare per capita (in comparison to a global average of 0.6 hectare per capita). Recently China has been losing 500,000 hectares of natural forest per year, largely because of poor governance of the logging industry. To address these issues, the government announced a ban on logging in natural forests, introduced new land laws, initiated reforestation programs with investments in plantations, and promoted environmentally sustainable logging practices.

Project Objectives and Description

The China Sustainable Forestry Development Project aims to develop a participatory framework for the sustainable management and conservation of forests and associated biodiversity, while minimizing the social and economic costs of the new government policy. The project includes a protected area management component, a national forest management component, and a plantation component. The plantation component—accounting for 81 percent of the total project costs and 99 percent of the World Bank loan—involves individual farmers and local organizations in commercial tree plantations established to narrow the gap between domestic wood supply and demand and to generate employment and income opportunities for rural households. These objectives are addressed through four plantation subcomponents, including:

• Establishment of timber plantations (to control soil erosion, contribute to watershed management, and support forestry research).
  
  
• Establishment of economic tree crops.
  
  
• Precommercial thinning of existing plantations.
  
  
• Provision of technical support to develop planting stock and improve nursery management.

Plantation establishment is accompanied by the appropriate market and technical research, much of it drawn from other Bank projects and Chinese research institutions. This research coordination effort allowed the task team to gather information (for example, to identify ecotypes and develop lists of plantation species) in a cost-efficient manner.

Provided that they are managed and monitored appropriately, commercial plantations can reduce pressure on natural forests by providing fuelwood and lumber that might otherwise be cut illegally from natural forests. A clear system for monitoring and evaluation provides for monitoring on three levels: implementation progress, growth and quality of plantations, and environmental and social parameters.