Following three years of pilot efforts to finance the protection of forests in 658 counties of 11 provinces and 24 national natural reserves, the government is extending its forestry rehabilitation programme with the setting up of a compensation foundation.

Beginning this year, the foundation has handed over its annual budget of 2 billion yuan (US$240 million) to some 800,000 forest rangers growing and protecting about 27 million hectares of forest throughout the country, an official announced on Friday in Beijing.

Li Yucai, deputy-director of the State Forestry Administration (SFA) made it clear at a national conference yesterday that, under the foundation, any one working with such forests is expected to receive 5 yuan (60 US cents) each year for every mu (0.07 hectare) of woodland they manage and protect.

"Such subsidies will be given to every worker in major State-owned woodlands and farmers working for individually-run forest farms," he confirmed.

Ninety per cent of the money must be used as compensation for the costs of afforestation with the rest set aside for controlling forest fires, diseases and pests or monitoring changes of such resources, he added.

Viewed as a milestone in China's history of forestry protection, "the foundation is an institutional renovation to encourage millions of forest workers and farmers to protect forest resources" rather than damage them as they did in the past, a SFA official surnamed Wang said.

The move is helping China bring two-thirds of its total forests into full protection by using government funds, Wang added.

China has about 267 million hectares of woodlands. They have been roughly classified as commercial forests and ecological woodlands with commercial logging banned for the latter.

Of the country's existing woodlands, 40 per cent totalling about 104 million hectares (156 million mu) have been saved for ecological purposes, of which, over 45 per cent belonging to natural forests have been protected at the highest level with a ban on logging since 1998.

Mostly growing along China's major rivers, areas surrounding large reservoirs, wetlands and key natural reserves, all non-industrial forests are of vital importance to the regional rehabilitation of ecosystems including water and soil conservation and biodiversity.

"With the help of the foundation, China has ended a chronic history of simply consuming the ecological benefits of its forests," Li said.

"From now on, the country is in a new era of using forest resources to ensure sustainable development for the economy and society," he said.

Source: China Daily