The forest and the trees
Beijing wants to scale up its forestry sector.
On Monday, the Central Committee and State Council released a plan to reform the collective forest tenure system.
- Yesterday, we told you the plan enables farmers who hold forest rights to profit from maintaining carbon sinks.
But that's not all.
The plan will upscale timber production by reforming how China's forest property rights work:
- Under the current system, forests are owned by the state and contracted to rural households, who effectively hold a short-term, non-transferable right to manage and use them.
- By 2025, under the new system, those rural households will be permitted to lease forest use rights to a third party – like a timber company.
Get this: The plan calls to set up "moderate scale" timber operations to manage larger parcels of forest.
- It suggests establishing forest cooperatives and trusteeships, modeled on farmers' co-ops.
The plan could also stimulate other economic activity.
- It opens the door for ecotourism operators or retirement homes to lease large tracts of forest.
The upshot: Expect a significant increase in logging over the next few years.
Get smart: China is the world's largest importer of lumber, but volumes have been sliding for over a decade as construction slows.
- A fast-growing domestic logging sector will accelerate that slide.
The bigger picture: Xi Jinping views reforms that boost farmers' incomes and upscale rural industries as central to his legacy.
- That means there's pressure from the top to get this done – it'll move fast.