China-backed forest network invests $45m in Asia-Pacific projects

The Asia-Pacific Network for Sustainable Forest Management and Rehabilitation (APFNet) has funded over 50 demonstration projects across more than 20 Asia-Pacific economies, with total investment exceeding $45 million.

Gong Yumei, director of the APFNet Coordination Center — an affiliate of China's National Forestry and Grassland Administration — revealed the figure at a press conference on Thursday.

The briefing was held in the lead-up to the APEC Ministerial Meeting on Forestry, which is scheduled to take place in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, from July 27 to 28.

Under the theme "Building a Green Asia-Pacific, Sharing Ecological Well-being", the high-level gathering will bring together regional leaders to discuss sustainable forest management and ecological governance.

"In recent years, China has actively supported and participated in forestry exchange and cooperation under the APEC framework, promoting practical collaboration among member economies in key areas such as forest restoration and sustainable management, ecosystem conservation, community livelihood improvement and capacity building," Gong said, highlighting APFNet as an example.

She said these demonstration projects represent APFNet's efforts, under the administration's support, to explore effective models for forest restoration, focusing on the needs of developing member economies — with a focus on degraded forest rehabilitation, multifunctional forest enhancement and community livelihood improvement.

One of the projects, she said, is an urban forestry demonstration initiative in the Bang Kachao area of Bangkok, Thailand, which seeks to explore effective ways to protect and restore the "urban lungs" of densely populated cities.

"These projects act both as 'test beds' for locally tailored forest restoration and as 'green seeds' that spread ecological civilization concepts and technologies across the Asia-Pacific — generating ecological gains, community prosperity and sustainable development," she emphasized.

Officially launched in September 2008, APFNet is a nonprofit international organization dedicated to advancing sustainable forest management and rehabilitation in the Asia-Pacific region.

The establishment of APFNet, proposed by China, was endorsed by the 15th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders' Meeting in September 2007 in Sydney, Australia.