Forest Policies Addressing Climate Change in China

V ol9N o22010 Forest Policies Addressing Climate Change in China

WU Shuirong LI Zhiyong YU Tianfei

Institute of Forestry P olicy a nd Inf ormation,Chinese A ca demy of Forestry,B eijing100091,P.R.China

Abstr act:As a developing country with a large population and a fr agile e cologic al environment,China is particularly vulnerable to the adverse effe cts of c limate change.Be ginning with the Rio Confe rence of 1992China ha s playe d a progressive ly enhance d role in comba ting c limate change.A series of policies

a nd m easure s to address clim ate change have been taken in the overall context of national sustainable

development str ategy,making positive c ontributions to the mitigation and adaptation to clima te c hange,

a mong which f ore stry linked policies ha ve be en given inc reasing priority to ove r the years.At the UN

S umm it on C lim ate Change in S eptem ber2009,China’s P reside nt c ommitte d the country to an unpr ecedented inc rease in for est ca rbon sink through augmenting f orest cove rage by40million ha and

f or est stock volume by1.3billion m3by2020c ompar ed to the2005level.For realizin

g it C hina has

e volved the For estr y Action Plan to Cope with Clima te Cha nge that sets forth five basic pr inciples that

include com bining the targets of forestry deve lopment with the national stra tegies on clim ate change, increasing fore st size a nd im proving f orest quality,increa sing carbon trading and controlling emissions, combining government guidance with social pa rticipation,slowing down climate cha nge,and adapting to the change.Further,in order to make it people’s program r ather than a top-down government initia tive,

C hina is speeding up the tre nd of de centraliza tion a nd privatiz ation of forest managem ent through

c ollec tive for est tenure r eform that are geare

d towards rel

e asing direct governme ntal control ove r for est

management,decentralizing the powers of forest administrations to lower levels and promoting community participation in forest m anagement.These comprehensive steps have changed the f ace of forestry in the

c ountry but both the gove rnme nt an

d th

e scientific community re alize that this is merely a beginning in

the long and ar duous task of combating c limate change.

Key wor ds:climate change,mitigation,adaptation,forest policy,China

Many observations in recent100years show that the earth’s climate is now experiencing significant change characterized by global warming.And the trend of clima te change in China is ge nerally consistent with that of global climate change(NDRC 2007).As a deve lopin g c ountry w ith a large population,a complex climate and a fragile ecological environment,China is vulnera ble to the adverse e ffe c ts o f clima te c han ge,wh ic h ha s pose d substantial threats to the natural ecological systems as well as the economic and social development of the country.Adaptation is an urgent task for China. In the phase of rapid economic development,with

f y,eliminatin

g poverty and mitigating the emissions of greenhouse gases,China has actively responded to climate change.This also serves China’s domestic needs for re alizing susta inable development and presents a historical opportunity for development.

1F ORESTS IN NA TIONAL STRA TEGIES RESPONSE TO CLIMA TE CHANGE

1.1China’s response to climate cha nge

China set up a special institution addressing climate

(1-12)

1 multiple pressures o developing the econom change in1990and established the ational