Felling of aged lumber drops under protection plan ( 2003-11-29 08:53) (China Daily)
More than 52 billion yuan (US$6.3 billion) has been invested in a national
project to protect old-growth forests, helping save 320 million cubic metres of
the valuable timber from being felled.
The protection project was firstly run as a pilot strategy in 1998, before
being officially launched in 2000. It is scheduled to be completed in 2010.
The project, involving a total investment of 96.8 billion yuan (US$11.7
billion), aims to protect old-growth forests in China, plant new trees and help
some 741,000 excessive forestry workers find new jobs.
Among the money, 49.5 billion yuan (US$5.9 billion) has come from the central
government and the rest from local governments, the State Forestry
Administration revealed on Friday.
The timber output in national old-growth forests in Northeast China and North
China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has dropped to about 10.9 million cubic
metres this year. In 1997, the output was more than 18.5 million cubic metres.
The gap in the market has been made up by an increase of timber from planted
forests throughout the country and more efficient timber use, sources with the
administration said.
In six provinces in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, such as Southwest
China's Yunnan and Sichuan provinces, and seven provinces in the upper and lower
reaches of the Yellow River, people have not been allowed to cut down trees and
sell them since 2000.
Since the project began, more than 3.8 million hectares of forest have been
planted.
In addition, 8.8 million hectares of old-growth and newly planted trees have
been put under protection.
The number of people taking care of forests increased to 193,000 last year
from 32,000 in 1998.
Meanwhile, 660,000 excessive forest workers have been assisted in finding new
employment.
Sources with the administration said the focus of the next phase of the
project will turn to achieving sustainable development in forests both in
economic and social aspects.
Nearly 60 foreign and domestic forestry experts are attending an
international forum on natural forest protection and the sustainable operation
of forests, which opened on Friday, to discuss how to achieve the goal of
sustainable development.
China's national forest protection project has attracted close attention from
the international community.
The United Nations Development Programme launched a four-year project to
technically support China's national forest protection project in March 2001. It
will donate US$1 million under the US$2.5 million project.
