The Chinese government has called on localities across the country to use timber more efficiently and step up the development of timber substitutes, in order to enhance efficient utilization of natural resources and environmental protection.

According to an official document on advancing the efficient use of timber and timber substitutes, which was made public on Saturday, China aims to save 40 million to 50 million cubic meters of timber annually by the year 2010, when relevant laws and regulations, standards, policies and information service systems will be basically established.

By then, China's comprehensive timber utilization rate will be increased to over 65 percent, and nearly 5 percent of the domestic wood products will be antisepticized.

To achieve this goal, the country will boost the development of the timber processing industry for better use of wood resources, supported by numerical controlled machines and enterprises with strict quality control. Timber protection technologies will be adopted to prolong the lifespan of wood products, while a recycling system will be established to make use of old or waste wood products.

To develop timber substitutes to improve the structure of timber consumption, efforts will be made to boost the production of wood-based plates, bamboo products and other products based on residues of crops, said the document.

China is in short of wood resources, with its forest coverage and per capita forest acreage reaching only three-fifths and a quarter of the world average levels, respectively.

Currently, China's comprehensive timber utilization rate only 60 percent, compared with above 80 percent in developed countries. The country's irrational modes of timber production and consumption, coupled with the poor processing and recycling level, result in serious waste of resources.

"We must take save timber and use timber substitutes as a pressing task for developing a recycling economy and build a resources-conservation society," says the document.

All localities and departments concerned should also make it a long-term strategy and formulate concrete regulations on saving timber and using timber substitutes in the fields of production, construction and consumption, it says.

The government will constitute policies to encourage timber conservation and the use of substitutes by fiscal, taxation and price measures and give necessary supports for technological research and the development of new energy resources.

The document was jointly issued by the State Reform and Development Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of Railways, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Commerce, the State Administration of Taxation, the State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, the State Environmental Protection Administration, and the State Forestry Administration.

Source: Xinhua