Forests and Sustainability

Forests and Sustainability China’s Environment: Growth, Resources, Politics Stevan Harrell Creative Retirement Institute November 2013

Forest cover percentages • 2700 BCE: 49%* • 1700 CE: 26%* • 1937 CE: 8%* • 1949 CE: 11.4%** • 1962 CE: 8.1-11.6%** • 1990 CE: 14.0%*** • 2011 CE: 20.3%*** *Estimates by Ling Daxie **Estimaes by He Fanning et al. ***State Forestry Bureau National Forest Inventories

Earlier Deforestation:Forests, 8th Century C.E. 虞衡斤斧罗千山，工命采斫杙与椽。深林土剪十取一，百牛连鞅摧双辕。万围千寻妨道路，东西蹶倒山火焚。遗馀毫末不见保，躏跞涧壑何当存。群材未成质已夭，突兀哮豁空岩峦。柏梁天灾武库火，匠石狼顾相愁冤。君不见南山栋梁益稀少，爱材养育谁复论。 The official guardians’ axes have spread through a thousand hills, At the Works Department’s order hacking beams and billets. Of ten trunks cut in the woodlands’ depths, only one gets hauled away. Ox-teams strain at their traces—till the paired yoke-shafts break. Great-girthed trees of towering height lie blocking the forest tracks, A tumbled confusion of lumber, as flames on the hillside crackle. Not even the last remaining shrubs are safeguarded form destruction; Where once mountain torrents leapt—nothing but rutted gullies. Timbers, not yet seasoned or used, left immature to rot; Proud summits and deep gorges now—hummocks of naked rock. Disasters destroy the cedar bridges; there is fire in the armory; Artisans regard each other with looks of anxious enmity. Do you not see that it would be better to have fewer bridges in the southern mountains? Who will speak again of the loving cultivation of forests? 柳宗元，行南路，Translated by Mark Elvin and Stevan Harrell

Deforestation before 1700 % of Forest lost, 2700 BCE-1700 < 25% 25-50% 50-75% >75% Ling Daxie, Changes in Our Country’s Forest Resources, 1983

Deforestation 1700-1937 % of Forest lost, 1700-1937 < 25% 25-50% 50-75% >75% Ling Daxie, Changes in Our Country’s Forest Resources, 1983

Forest Cover, 1937 28.0 27.0 5.0 5.0 0.9 6.0 0.7 2.0 6.0 0.6 2.7 16.0 5.0 2.0 13.0 8.0 34.0 12.0 19.0 18.0 9.0 % of Forest Cover, 1937 > 30% 20-30% 10-20% 5-10% <5% 23.0 10.0 5.1 Ling Daxie, Changes in Our Country’s Forest Resources, 1983

State of the Forests in the PRC Source: Robbins and Harrell China Quarterly 2014

The Three Big Forest Projects • The “Great Green Wall” • The “Natural Forest Protection Program” • The “Returning Farmland to Forest Program” • a.k.a. “Grain for Green” • a.a.k.a. “Sloping Land Conversion Program” Tomorrowsigreener.com

Forests in the lives of China’s peoples: Nuosu in Liangshan Timber Firewood Bamboo Foods and medicines

Forests in the lives of China’s peoples: Tibetans in Jiuzhaigou Pilgrimage NTFP Lumber and Fuel

The Importance of Being Local: Three case studies from Sichuan1. Sanjiang: It worked, sorta

The Importance of Being Local: Three case studies from Sichuan2. Yuangjuan: A total failure

The Importance of Being Local: Three case studies from Sichuan3. Jiuzhaigou: Never should have tried it

China’s wood consumption Source: Robbins and Harrell China Quarterly 2014

Dealing with the Shortfall China’s Log imports by source 2000-2008 Source: Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). 2011. FAOSTAT Something to think about: China is exporting deforestation

A Forest Report Card • Increasing quantity of forests: A- • Preserving quality of forests C • Implementing sustainable forestry: B • Enhancing rural livelihoods: B- • Preventing or reversing desertification: C • Using funds efficiently: D • Preserving the world environment: F

Forests and Sustainability