General Situation

According to the 6^th National Survey on Forest Resources, the forest area in China reached 175 million hectares with the forest coverage of 18.21%. The volume of live standing timber reserve and forest reserve reached 13.618 billion m³ and 12.456 billion m³ respectively. China's forest area accounted for 4.5% of the world's total and ranked the 5^th globally. Its forest reserve took up 3.2% of world's total, ranking the 6^th in the world. With regard to artificial forest, the total conserved area of such forest in China topped the world. Compared with the result of the 5^th National Census on Forest Resources (1994~1998), the forest area of China grew by 15.968 million hectares; the corresponding coverage ratio increased by 1.66 percentage points; the forest reserve surged by 889 million m³; the forest reserve per hectare climbed by 2.59 m³; the ratio between forests for commercial purpose to that for welfare purpose changed from 83:17 to 63:37; the area of broad-leaved forest and broad-leaved tree and coniferous tree mingled forest inched up by 3 percentage points; and the area of half-mature and near-mature forest was up by 2.99 percentage points.

Plant Diseases and Insect Pests  According to statistics, a total of 9.329 million hectares of forests were subject to plant diseases and insect pests in 2005. Among them, 6.997 million ha had been treated with control means, accounting for 75% of the total. Among them, 64% was prevented or controlled in a nuisance-free manner, while the disaster rate was 5‰.

Forest Fire Disasters  As indicated by relevant statistics, there were 11,542 cases of forest fire across the country in 2005, down by 14.3% against the previous year. Among them, there were 6,574 fire alarms (down by 4.6% year-on-year); 4,949 general fire disasters (down by 24.2% year-on-year); 16 major fire disasters (down by 57.9% year-on-year); and 3 very big fire disasters (maintaining the same level as the previous year).

A total area of 73,700 ha of forest was subject to fire in 2005, a reduction of 48.2% compared with that of 2004. As a result, the fires caused 152 casualties (including 40 slightly injured; 20 seriously injured and 92 deaths), 39.7% less than that of the previous year.

Countermeasures and Actions

【Progress of the Six Forestry Projects】In 2005, altogether 3.1194 million hectares of forest were planted (by artificial and aerial sowing methods) in the six key forestry projects, accounting for 85.51% of the total afforestation area in China. Amidst the efforts, 2.3655 million ha of mountains had been closed for forest cultivation.

The Natural Forest Resource Protection Program In 2005, the afforestation task of 1.1667 million hectares of forest was completed with 118,400 hectares of artificial forest and 306,400 hectares of aerial sowing. A total area of 741,900 ha of mountains (desserts) had been closed for forest cultivation, and the forest area under protection and management amounted to 96.79 million ha.

The Program of Converting Farmland to Forest (Grain for Green) The total afforested area in 2005 was 3.3531 million ha (including 398,900 ha of the Program of Control the Sand Sources of Beijing and Tianjin), of which 2.2032 were artificially planted including861,200 ha of forest converted from farmland and 1.342 million ha of forest planted in barren mountains and waste land suitable for tree planting. A total area of 1.1499 million ha of mountains (desserts) had been closed for forest cultivation, and 47,700 ha of land were planted with grass.

The Program of Controlling the Sand Sources of Beijing and Tianjin In 2005, a total of 1.8223 million ha of land were treated within the sand source area, of which 742,200 ha of afforestation tasks were accomplished including 344,200 ha of artificial forest, 74,300 ha of afforestation by aerial sowing and 323,700 ha of mountains (desserts) closed for forest cultivation; 281,800 ha of grassland was treated; 798,300 ha of small river basins area was treated comprehensively; and 17,600 sites of water conservancy supporting facilities were constructed.

The Three North Shelter and the Yangtze River Basin Shelter Forest ProgramsIn 2005, 612,300 hectares of land were afforested under the project including 345,500 ha of artificial forest, 22,700 ha of forest by aerial sowing and 244,100 ha of mountains (desserts) closed for forest cultivation. In addition, 23,000 ha of shelter forest with low yield and efficiency were improved.

The Program of Developing Wildlife Protection Zones and Nature Reserves By the end of 2005, 1,699 nature reserves had been established and managed by the forestry sector across China with a total area of 120 million ha, covering 12.5% of the land territory of China.

The Fast-Growing Timber Forest Base Development Program in Key Regions In 2005, 16,700 ha of fast-growing timber forest were planted including 9,000 ha on barren mountains and wasteland.

【Related Policies on Protecting Natural Forest Resources】In June of 2005, the China Banking Regulatory Commission and State Forestry Administration jointly issued the Circular on the List of Forestry Enterprises within the Natural Forest Protection Project Area Subject to the Exemption of Debts in Financial Institutions as well as the Exemption Amount (Batch I), exempting the debts of 731 logging enterprises to financial institutions totaling 8.811 billion RMB yuan, which marked the proper solution of the major problem of insolvency of forestry enterprises within the Natural Forest Protection Project Area to financial institutions due to logging ban and restriction and would play a critical role in easing the burden of debts of these enterprises and promoting their structural reform and organizational innovation.

【Establishing Garden Cities】By the end of 2005, 87 cities (districts) were awarded the title of "National Garden Cities (Districts)", and 10 counties were awarded the title of "National Garden County" across China.

【China Human Settlement and Environment Award】By the end of 2005, 12 cities had won  "China Human Settlement and Environment Award" established by the Ministry of Construction. These cities included Shenzhen, Dalian, Hangzhou, Nanning, Shihezi, Qingdao, Xiamen, Sanya, Haikou, Yantai, Yangzhou and Weihai. A total of 152 cities or projects won "China Human Settlement and Environment Model Award". Both awards had vigorously promoted the work of municipal governments in improving urban human settlement environment.

【State-level Scenic Spots】In 2005, 10 new state-level scenic spots were approved by relevant department. By the end of the year, China had altogether boasted 187 state-level scenic spots. According to the statistics from 170 such places, these scenic spots cover an area of 69,000 km² with the area available for tourism up to 31,000 km² and annual reception of 370 million tourists.