Forest policy: implementation, impact and effectiveness

Editor's note 20Mar14: Source D142-7.

The Forest Law (1984, 1998) aims to develop protected forest resources, forest ownership attributable to the State, and national and individual forestry and forest resources protection.

Article 1 of the Forest Law clearly states the overall objective of forest policies is to "protect, nurture and rationally utilize forest resources", but in fact, the very simple goal is to continue to provide forest products, through an adequate enforcement system ultimately vesting property rights and product ownership in the Forest Products Division.

Therefore, the core issue of the forest policy is how to ensure national interests are promoted under the premise of safeguarding or not infringing on the legitimate income of individuals. In recent decades, the concerns about environmental degradation prompted the environmental sector to become involved in the development of forest resources.

The State Forestry Administration (SFA) is the national authority for natural and secondary forest responsible for policy formulation. The local forestry bureaus are the forestry resources management institutions responsible for supervision. The SFA is responsible for: organization and management of forest resources surveys, zoning, planning, design and results of examination; auditing and logging permits for cutting areas; supervising the implementation of the forest management plan and the state-approved implementation of forest-cutting quotas, as well as reforestation, updating and tending. Forest management plans are legally binding, giving the Forestry Department certain powers of investigation and oversight.

The Forest Engineering Institute is an advisory body, responsible for providing advice on forestry planning, technical support and the interpretation of policy and regulations.

Aside from collective farms, all forest land belongs to the State. In general, the State-owned collective farms and forests are the main providers of wood and forest products, but recent years have seen the rise of private forests. Police and fire authorities are also seen as important participants due to the need for forest fire fighting and fire prevention actions. Conservation areas are the responsibility of the local forestry sector to manage, but environmental protection and wildlife conservation are the responsibilities of the environmental protection department. Institutional coordination between levels and focus areas is difficult.

The main instruments at the Government and Forest Service's disposal are:

• Local forest management planning to determine the scope of the jurisdiction and the use of woodland and forest.
• Licensing system (bamboo forest-felling permits, grazing and hunting licenses, and tree seedling production land applications and permits) following form the plan.
• Forestry fund. Special funds for the development of timber, forestry, and other commodities; the implementation of paid working capital; and recycling. It must be noted that funding for forestry is usually indirectly obtained from national and community sources. The purpose is to increase the species diversity, rather than simply increasing forest cover.

Collective forest farms participate in the harvesting contracts system whereby part of state-owned forest woodland payments return to village group collectives due to forest use rights. As long as the harvesting contracts do not exceed the scope of the specification limit, the State has no direct powers to intervene.

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