Nation vows to topple illegal timber trade

By Wang Zhuoqiong (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-11-19 07:30

The top forestry administrator of China, the world's biggest importer of timber, has urged nations to step up their fight against illegal logging.

Jia Zhibang, head of the State Forestry Administration (SFA), said China has been cracking down hard on illegal logging and illegal trade of timbers.

"China now has no (massive) smuggling of timber," he told China Daily on the sidelines of a press conference by the State Council Information Office on Tuesday. "Countries with timber should step up the fight against illegal activities."

He made the remarks when asked to comment on the accusation made by an overseas environmental organization based in Europe that China has been smuggling timber from neighboring Myanmar.

According to a report released by the organization, China and Myanmar have made progress in tackling illegal logging but must do more to stamp out corruption fueling the illegal trade.

China cut its timber imports from Myanmar by 70 percent between 2005 and 2008, but trade was still thriving because of bribery, falsified documents and poor law enforcement, the report said.

The report said the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Russia were the chief exporting destinations of timber, used mostly for making furniture.

Jia pledged to continue cracking down on illegal timber trade.

He admitted, however, that China, as the world's biggest wood-processing manufacturer and wood furniture exporter, has a big gap in supply and demand despite soaring number of imports and increasing areas of forestry each year.

In 2007, imports of timber and pulp reached 150 million cu m, he said.

From 2006 to 2010, the country has seen a shortage of timber of 150 million cu m. It will have 230 million cu m from 2011 to 2015, Jia told China Daily.

To meet the soaring demand, the country needs to hasten the planting of trees, the official said.

China's forest coverage reached 20.36 percent at the end of last year, beating a goal of creating a 20-percent coverage by 2010, said an SFA's survey released on Tuesday.

President Hu Jintao said at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in September 2007 that the country's forest coverage would reach 20 percent by the end of 2010.

"It shows that China's forestry has grown steadily in quality and quantity," said Chen Xiaoqian, forestry policy expert with the Nature Conservancy.

China's forested area reached 195 million hectares by the end of last year.

Jia said the figure was an increase of 20.54 million hectares from 2003's figure of 175 million hectares.

In China, a forest refers to woods covering an area more than 1 mu (0.667 hectares) with crown density - the measure of skylight blocked by plant material - at or above 20 percent, according to the SFA.

Manmade forests saw a net increase to 8.43 million hectares from 2004 to 2008 and cover an area of 62 million hectares, topping any other country in the world.

However, China still faces major problems on forest protection and management, such as increased occupation and requisition of forest-land as well as illegal deforestation, Jia said.

China is endeavoring to increase forest coverage by 40 million hectares by 2020 as a way to offset greenhouse gas emissions, Hu said at a recent United Nations climate change summit.

But with no legislation on banning imports of timber without legal sources, China has allowed wood imports as long as they have trade permits issued by authorities in the country of origin.