Final Report - Asian Development Bank

30
TA 4721-PRC: Preparing the Shaanxi-Qinling Mountains Integrated Ecosystem Management Project
Final Report Appendix 5
112. Forest farms number 103 and cover 13,164 km 2 in the Qinling, or 26 percent of the 50,500
km 2 of the total Qinling area in Shaanxi Province (Appendix 12). Forest farms are commercial
organizations administered by SFA and provincial forestry departments, and by collectives. Forest
farms produce timber in commercial plantations, and many have diversified into related industries such
as wood products and non-timber forest products. Reorganization of the forest farms was necessary
following imposition of the ban on felling of trees in natural forests under the Natural Forest Protection
Program of 1998. This had a severe impact on the forest farm network by reducing the area of forest
under commercial management and, as a consequence, the need for forestry personnel.
b. Implementing the Biodiversity Convention in China
i. Multilateral Cooperation 27
113. The World Bank-GEF China Nature Reserve Management Project (funded by GEF) began in
the second half of 1995 and finished in 2000. The domestic executing institutions were the State
Forestry Administration; provincial forestry departments in Yunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Shaanxi and Fujian;
nature reserves of Xishuangbanna in Yunnan, Poyang Lake in Jiangxi, Wuyi Mountain in Fujian,
Shengnongjia in Hubei; nature reserves of Foping, Zhouzhi, Niubeiliang, Taibaishan and Changqing in
Qinling, Shaanxi; Wuyishan Nature Reserve in Jiangxi, and Changqing Forestry Bureau in Shaanxi.
ii. Non-Governmental Cooperation
In 1996, China joined IUCN as a country member. The two sides jointly convened the First Forum on
Biological Diversity in Asia. In April 2000, China joined Wetland International. China also conducted a
joint project with WWF for protection of Giant Panda and its habitats.
iii. Action Plan for Conservation of Biological Diversity
114. With financial support from UNDP-GEF, China compiled its China Biodiversity Conservation
Action Plan (BCAP) in 1994 in which the priorities for ecosystems, and species protection were set.
China’s BCAP clarified the objectives for seven initiatives and raised 26 priority action programs and
18 priority projects for immediate implementation. PRC also compiled and promulgated China’s
Agenda 21 – White Paper on China’s Population, Environment and Development in the 21 st Century.
Chapter 15 “Conservation of Biological Diversity” of the White Paper defines the policies, targets,
priority areas and projects for biodiversity conservation. At year-end 1997, the State Council approved
"China's Biodiversity: A Country Study", which set out the objectives of national capacity building for
conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in China for the ensuing fifteen years (1996-2010). It
addressed legislation, institutional construction, human resources, policy framework, protection
facilities, science and technology, education and public participation, and international cooperation.
115. PRC approved a Trans-Century Green Engineering Plan, a National Ecological Environment
Construction Plan, and a Compendium of National Ecological Conservation. The PRC Government
set up its Compendium of Development Plan for Nature Reserves in China (1996-2010), specifying
the targets and specific programs for nature reserve planning nationwide. China also formulated a
Biodiversity Conservation Action Plan for Forestry, a Biodiversity Conservation Action Plan for
Agriculture, a National Wetlands Conservation Action Plan, and an Action Plan for Ex situ Protection
of Giant Panda.
iv. Monitoring
116. PRC has established monitoring networks for major ecosystems and key groups of species
and substantial information has been produced. PRC set up monitoring systems for forest resources
and for wild fauna and flora, among others, and a monitoring center for fisheries environments. China
has also set up a general environmental monitoring station and over 2,000 local environmental
monitoring stations. Sixty-four ecological positioning study stations have been established and a
27 China's Second National Report on Implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity by State
Environmental Protection Administration of China, China Environmental Science Press, September 2001.