08/03/2005 – Because of
its rapidly rising demand for wood, China
is set to lead the world's wood market and
this will have devastating impacts on some
of the planet's outstanding forests unless
major changes are made in the country's current
policies, a new WWF report warns.
According to the report, China’s Wood Market,
Trade and the Environment, more than half
of the timber imported by China comes from
countries such as Russia, Malaysia and Indonesia,
which are all struggling with problems such
as over-harvesting, conversion of natural
forests and illegal logging. China is one
of the major destinations for wood that may
be illegally harvested or traded, it says.
The report indicates that while the average
Chinese citizen uses 17 times less wood than
a person in the US, China's wood imports have
dramatically increased over the past ten years
and will continue to do so to meet the demand
of the country's huge population and rapid
economic growth.
The report also found that measures taken
by the Chinese government to protect its forests
– including a ban on logging – after the 1998
devastating Yangtze River flooding have resulted
in a significant drop in China's domestic
wood production.
The country's forests and plantations will
provide less than half of China's expected
total industrial wood demand by 2010, and
this puts more pressure on the forests of
the countries that export timber, the report
stresses.
"China's efforts so far in forest restoration
and forest sustainable management are a good
start towards preserving valuable and threatened
forests," said Dr Claude Martin, Director
General of WWF International. "But logging
bans in China should not lead to forest loss
in other parts of the world. Decisive action
is needed to ensure that supply chains leading
to or through China begin with well-managed
forests."
WWF believes that China’s demand for wood
from regions where forest management is poor
could be reduced by developing environmentally
responsible wood production in some of the
country's forests where logging is currently
banned.
The report also suggests that incentives
are created to improve the efficiency of wood
production and use in China, and reduce the
waste of timber.
Furthermore, WWF calls on both governments
and the private sector to take concerted measures
to promote imports and purchases of wood from
well-managed forests.
Such measures include responsible procurement
policies, use of systems to trace wood from
its source to final use, forest certification,
enforcement of government policies and regulations
to prevent the import of products containing
illegally-sourced wood, and cooperation with
other nations to combat illegal trade of forest
products.
"China will soon be leading the global
wood market, we hope that it will also lead
the efforts to safeguard the world's forests,"
said Dr. Zhu Chunquan, Director of WWF China's
Forest Programme.
The new WWF report was released today in
Hong Kong at a meeting on illegal logging
organized by The Forests Dialogue, a forum
for trade associations, major corporations
and government officials, among others.
The China Forest and Trade Network (FTN)
was also launched at that event, as part of
a global WWF initiative to facilitate market
links between companies committed to responsible
forestry and purchasing of forest products.
NOTES
1. The Forests Dialogue (TFD), formed in
1999, is an outgrowth of dialogues begun under
the auspices of the World Business Council
for Sustainable Development, The World Bank
and The World Resources Institute. These dialogues
converged to create TFD when leaders decided
there needed to be an on-going, civil society
driven, multi-stakeholder dialogue platform
to address important global forestry issues.
2. The China Forest and Trade Network is
a crucial addition to the Global Forest &
Trade Network (GFTN), WWF’s initiative to
eliminate illegal logging, improve the management
of the world's valuable and threatened forests,
and promote credible forest certification.
By providing support to and facilitating trade
links between progressive forest industry
companies, the GFTN seeks to create market
conditions that will help conserve the world’s
forests while providing economic and social
benefits for the businesses and people that
depend on them.
SPECIAL FOOTNOTE - IMPORT FIGURES
Contrary to some news reports, the China study
launched on March 8, 2005 predicts that total
imports for wood products will rise by approximately
one third over the seven year period from
2003 to 2010, from 94 million cubic meters
roundwood equivalent (RWE) to 125 million
cubic meters RWE. The confusion, which led
to some stories reporting three-fold increase
in imports by 2010, appears to be based on
the finding that China's total imports of
timber in 2003 amounted to 42 millon cubic
meters RWE. Timber imports, however, are not
the same as total imports, as they exclude
wood products such as paper and pulp.
