Documentation:Open Case Studies/FRST522/2022/The forest concession system in northeast China: A Case study of Jilin and Heilongjiang Provinces

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Introduction

A major development in China’s forestry sector over the past 30 years has been the massive investment in afforestation, which has reversed deforestation and increased forest cover from 157 million hectares in 1990 to 220 million hectares in 2020[1] (FAO, 2020a). Northeast China is one of the first regions to develop since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. The development of its forest management model and forest concession policy also interacts with China's economic policies and historical periods. There are 58,600 hectares of forests in Northeast China, accounting for 27% of the country's total forest area.[2] The huge forest reserves also allow the forest resources in this region to provide important value in the national ecological environment.

Keywords

Northeast China, Forest Concessions, Forest Tenure Reform, Chinese Forest Law, Jilin Province, Heilongjiang Province

Northeast China Overview

Figure1: Map of Northeast China

Northeast China Geographical Overview

Northeast China—which includes Liaoning (LN), Jilin (JL), and Heilongjiang (HLJ) provinces and four leagues (an administrative division of the inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, corresponding to a prefecture) in eastern Inner Mongolia Autonomous region (IMA).

The Northeast region has a total area of 147 million hectares, accounting for about 12.9% of China's total land area. This area is surrounded by mountains on three sides and faces the sea on one side. The terrain and landforms are diverse, ranging from plateaus, mountains to plains to seashores and deserts. Affected by latitude, longitude and topography, the climate presents a temperate continental monsoon climate characterized by cold and dry winters and hot and rainy summers. The annual average temperature is − 2.5 ~ 4.8 ℃; the precipitation is affected by the location of the sea and land, and gradually decreases from southeast to northwest, with an annual rainfall of 350 ~ 1100 mm.[3]

Northeast China Forest Overview

The existing forests in Northeast China 58.6 million hectares, accounting for 27% of the total forest area of China; among them, natural forests 45.5 million hectares, artificial forests 13.1 million hectares. The forest coverage rate in Northeast China is 47.2%, significantly higher than the national level (23.0%), and the area of arbor forest is 48.7 million hectares. Over the past 40 years, the forest area in Northeast China has shown an overall increasing trend, with an increase of 53.3%. Among them, the total area of forestry land in Jilin Province is 9.376 million hectares, the area of forest land is 8.22 million hectares, the total stock of living standing trees is 988.01 million cubic meters, and the forest coverage rate is 44.2%.[4] The forest coverage rate of Heilongjiang Province is 46.14%, the forest area is 20.977 million hectares, and the total stock of living trees is 1.829 billion cubic meters.

Figure2: Greater Khingan(Da Xing’anling Mountain) Forest

Major Forest Regions in Northeast China

Northeast China forest region contains three major forest regions

  • Da Xing’anling Mountain (DXM), also named Khingan in english, is located in northwestern HLJ province and northeastern IMA, with a forest land area of 15.0 million ha composed of cold temperate coniferous forest. Dahuirian larch is the dominant forest type, occupying 86% of the forest land.[5]
  • Xiao Xing’anling Mountain (XXM), named Lesser Khingan Mountains in english, located in northeastern HLJ province, encompasses about 6.0 million ha of temperate coniferous and broad-leaved forests. The dominant forest type is broad-leaved and Korean pine / Yeddo spruce mixed forest, with conifers accounting for 65% of primary forests (basal area).[6]
  • Changbai Mountain (CM), located in eastern HLJ, JL and LN provinces, includes about 13.8 million ha of temperate coniferous and broadleaved forests, with the dominant forest types ranging from broad-leaved and Korean pine mixed forest in the north to broad-leaved mixed forest in the south.[7]

History, social background and development of Forest Tenure and Concession in Northeast China

Northeastern China was developed much later than eastern and southern regions. In the early Qing Dynasty, most of the natural environment in Northeast China was almost primitive. The area has only been fully developed and settled over the past hundred years or so. With the development of history, the Northeast has experienced tremendous changes in forest coverage and forest ownership.[8] During this period, it has experienced large-scale destructive logging, non-recoverable forest development, and pilot logging quotas, and now the clarification of forest ownership, management rights, and the promotion of forest development led by the construction of sustainable ecological civilization.[1] The following (Table 1) is a summary of the timeline and impact of related historical events and forest tenure development policies since modern times.

Table1: Summary of the timeline and impact of related historical events and forest tenure development policies
Date Historical Event Forest Policy Effect
1644 Establishment of Qing Dynasty Deforestation and land reclamation Effects of human activities on the region’s forests had never extended far beyond the area of Liaoning province
1668 Prohibitive migration policy
1860 Prohibitive migration policy rescinded
1896-1930 Russia invaded and controlled forestry in northern NE China Harvesting without cultivation Forest area of 13.9 million ha, and forest growing stock of 1.79 billion m3 in Heilongjiang (HLJ) province disappeared
1911 Qing dynasty falls and Republic of China is founded
1911-1913 A multitude of migration and cultivation activities The middle and northern sections of HLJ province and the frontier area of northeast JL province were cultivated
1931-1944 Japan invades and controls forestry in NE China 18% of the forest area and 14.3% of the forest growing stock in NE China disappeared
1945 Civil war
1949 People’s Republic of China is founded
1950-1956 Diameter-limit cutting and natural regeneration Large area of secondary forests of low quality is established
1957-1965 Clear cutting and artificial regeneration The large area of plantation forests is established
1966-1977 ‘‘Cultural Revolution’’ in China Proliferation of open forestland and low-quality broadleaved forest in large areas of the region
1978 Reform and opening-up
1984 Classified forest management Excessive logging stringently controlled
1987 ‘‘Harvest quotas’’ introduced Annual harvest quota during the period of 1991–2000 is about 59 million m3 in NE China, 22.4% of total harvest quota in China. Actually in 1998–2000, the harvest volume is about half of the quota
1998 China's Ministry of Forestry changed its name to the State Forestry Administration of China
1998-2010 Implementation of Natural Forest Conservation Program Five forest categories reclassified into two Annual harvest quota for the period of 2001–2005 is about 46 million m3, 20.6% of total harvest quota in China; and for 2006–2010 quota is about 33 million m3 in NE China, 13.2% of total harvest quota in China
2008 Carry out collective forest tenure reform
2010 Formulate a strategic economic forest development plan with local characteristics (2011-2020)
2012 Formulate environmental policies and ecological protection red lines as an important part of ecological civilization construction
2014 Revise and pass the National Environmental Protection Law
2018 Formation of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration to integrate grassland management with forestry
2019 The newly revised "Forest Law of the People's Republic of China" was adopted and implemented on July 1, 2020 The revision of the Forest Law has strengthened the protection of ownership and added a new chapter of "Forest Ownership," which clarifies the issue of property rights and is more conducive to mobilizing the enthusiasm of forestry operators to protect and develop forest resources[9]

China's Forestry Tenure Reforms

Regarding China's forest tenure reform since modern times, different scholars have proposed different division methods for each period. One division method holds that after the founding of the People's Republic of China, forest concession rights are mainly divided into three stages based on development goals and practical results[10]:

  • Stage I: exploitative development (1949–1981)
    • A countrywide campaign in the late 1950s to use small village-scale iron mills to promote iron and steel production consumed enormous amounts of fuel wood. At the same time, a government-sponsored campaign to clear forestland for crop production contributed to massive deforestation. This was further facilitated by the collectivization of farm and forestland that began in the mid-1950s. As a result, forest area, coverage, and growing stock reached all-time historical lows.
  • Stage II: shifting pathways to reform (1981–1998)
    • The 1980s witnessed the emergence of a ‘second generation’ of political leadership in China under Deng Xiaoping along with policies characterized by a strong focus on economic liberalization, Among the most influential was the state-issued ‘Resolution on Issues Concerning Forest Protection and Development’ in 1981, which marked the beginning of a continuing of unsteady course of reform for China’s forestry sector. Among other measures it authorized collectives to allocate forest use rights to households on a contractual basis in order to increase forest coverage and improve local living standards. The Forest Law of China was passed in 1984, which among other things formally legalized use rights for forest lands and ownership of forest products, while tightening restrictions on timber harvesting on non-state forests. In effect, forest resources were protected by law for the first time. In 1984, China’s first forest law had introduced a set of five forest categories to guide policy making, They included timber, economic (nontimber forest products), fuel wood, shelterbelt, and special purpose (defense, science, and environmental protection) forests. Four years later, the forest law was amended to reclassify the five forest categories into two: Commercial Forest (CF) and Ecological Welfare Forest (EWF). by 1985 the state had placed a set of stringent restrictions on timber harvesting in the form of a permit system for cutting and transporting timber, severely constraining household use rights. In 1987, a harvesting quota system was adopted, with annual harvest quotas disaggregated from national to local levels and reset every five years – for total timber volume and volume by type.[11]
  • Stage III: moving toward forest sustainability (1998–present)
    • Refinements culminated in the adoption of a three-tiered version of land-use classes in 2000, First-level forest classes included CF and EWF lands; second-level forest classes were based on the conventional five forest categories, with further third-level subdivisions, Trial applications were undertaken, and the system became fully operational in 2003. As of 2010, 57% of China’s forests are classified as CF and 43% as EWF.[12] Another noteworthy policy thrust since the turn of the century has been an increasingly active effort to reform the structure of tenure rights for collective forest lands. As of 2008, about three-fifths of China’s 182.5 million hectares of forest lands were under collective, as opposed to state ownership, Beginning in 2003 with a series of pilot programs in several of China’s southern provinces, the management of collective forests is gradually being allotted to individual households. While the land remains under collective ownership, households are being accorded use rights for periods of up to 70 years with opportunity for renewal. households with such rights are now being accorded outright ownership of the trees and other resources on these lands. With the issuance in 2008 by the national government of its ‘Guidelines for Collective Forest Tenure Reform’, the scope of these rights continues to gradually expand.


Another way to divide is to consider the first round of China's forest reforms began shortly after the initial agricultural reforms in 1978 and largely followed the approach of the latter—focusing on the forests of the agricultural collectives and essentially disregarding, at that time, the approximately 40% of China's forests that remain state owned. The principle feature of those first round reforms was the transfer of management rights from a large share of collective forestlands to management by individual households. Subsequently, the central government also eased the controls on the price of timber sold by the new managing households.[13]

  • The first round of forest tenure reform (1990s)
    • The central government's announcement in 1992 that it was establishing a market economy began a period of gradual, varied, economy-wide but locally opportunistic market-oriented reforms. In the forest sector, land use rights were further diversified as additional plots of collective forest were auctioned or leased to individual investors and forest product companies as well as to farm households. As often the case in China, the new reforms began as local ventures in various locations. The more successful of them were observed in neighbouring counties and, as these successes became recognized more broadly, the Central Committee of the Communist Party (CCCP) and the State Council eventually formalized them as national policy. Households began transferring use rights for private plots to others within the same village in the early 1990s. The Revised Forest Law (RFL) legalized these transactions in 1998 with the stipulation that written contracts accompany the transfers.
  • The second round of forest tenure reform
    • Some local actions were preface to a sequence of formal policy decisions known together as China's second round of forest tenure reform. They authorized the steady devolution of collectively-held rights and improvement in household forest tenures. The Rural Land Contract Law (RLCL) in 2002 extended household rights to include transferring, inheriting, and mortgaging the rights to agricultural land use. It permitted transfers to other villagers and to non-villagers with permission from the village collective. CCCP Document No. 9 in 2003 extended the RLCL, reiterating the intention to devolve collective forests to individual villagers. This was an attempt to make forest sector policy consistent with that for agriculture. Its authorized villages to reallocate as much as 90% of their collective forests to households. By 2006 the central government had become convinced of the merit of tenure reform for the forests of the collectives and it recognized the need for coherent national guidance. The Minister of the State Forestry Administration announced that tenure reform was his first priority, an announcement that coincided with the central government's New Countryside Development Initiative (NCDI) which called for more assistance to rural areas, stronger property rights, and a more favorable policy environment for the rural poor. The CCCP and State Council announced its “Guidelines” in 2008. The Guidelines drew from the RLCL and Document No. 9 but placed specific emphasis on forest reform. The Guidelines clarified user rights and repeated the authorization for villages themselves to reassess and reallocate use rights. The village collectives were instructed to implement these reforms within five years. The Guidelines also assured that land could not be taken for commercial or public purposes without compensation to the holder of the use rights. Twenty provinces had announced their participation in the new round of reforms by 2010.
    • The second round of China's forest reforms, starting in the late 1990s and continuing gradually and without reversal almost to this day, still focuses on tenurial rights to the collective forest lands. The second round, in steps, extended household rights to transfer, inherit, and mortgage land use rights, authorized local authority for the assessment and reallocation of lands according to these new central government guidelines, and assured that land could not be taken from authorized households without compensation. The collectives, nevertheless, still retain official ownership rights to these forests.

Policies and Laws of Forest Tenure and Concession

Laws at the central government level

There is no law in China that completely and clearly defines the connotation and extension of forest tenure and concession. Regulations on the ownership of forests, woods, forest land or forest resources in the current law are scattered in normative documents of different legal departments and levels of effectiveness.

Table2: Laws related to Forest Tenure and Concession in China
Name of Law Date of Latest Enactment Relevant Content
Rural Land Contract Law of the People's Republic of China 29/08/2002
  • Article 2: "The rural land referred to in this law refers to the farmland, forest land, grassland, and other legally used agricultural land owned by farmers' collectives or owned by the state and used by farmers' collectives according to law. Land.”
  • Article 23: “The local people’s government at or above the county level shall issue land contractual management right certificates or forestry right certificates to the contractors, and register and make a book to confirm the land contractual management rights.”[14]
Forest Law of the People's Republic of China 28/12/2019
  • Articles 124 and 125 of the law stipulate: "The farmland, forest land, grassland, and another land that are collectively owned by peasants or owned by the state and used by collectives of the peasant. For agricultural land, the land contract management system shall be implemented by the law" "the holders of land contract management rights shall have the right to possess, use and benefit from the cultivated land, forest land, grassland, etc. contracted and managed by the law, and have the right to engage in planting, forestry and animal husbandry, and other agricultural production."
  • Article 127 of the law reiterates the requirement that governments at all levels issue land contractual management rights certificates, forestry rights certificates, and grassland use rights land contractual management right holders and register and make records to confirm land contractual management rights.[9]
People's Republic of China Property Law 16/03/2007
  • Article 3 stipulates: "Forest resources are owned by the state, except those collectively owned by law. The legitimate rights and interests of owners and users of forests, woods, and forest land are protected by law. No unit or individual may Infringement." Article 15 of the "Regulations on the Implementation of the Forest Law" stipulates: "Operators of timber forests, economic forests, and firewood forests enjoy management rights, income rights, and other legitimate rights and interests by the law. Operators of shelter forests and special forests have the right to obtain forest ecological compensation.[15]
Civil Code of the People's Republic of China 28/05/2020
  • On May 28, 2020, the Third Session of the Thirteenth National People's Congress voted to pass the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China, which will come into force on January 1, 2021. The Property Law of the People's Republic of China is abolished at the same time.[16]

Regulatory Documents at the central government level

Table3: Regulatory Documents related to Forest Tenure and Concession in China
Name of Regulation Promulgation Date Relevant Content
Measures for the Administration of Forest Tree and Forest Land Ownership 31/12/2000
  • The document requires forestry authorities at or above the county level to perform the duties of forest tenure registration in accordance with the law, and clarifies that forest tenure obligees refer to the owners of forests, forest trees, and forest lands or the right to use them. And submit the documents that need to be submitted when registering and applying for forest rights
Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Comprehensively Promoting the Reform of the Collective Forest Ownership System 08/06/2008
  • The document calls for the implementation of the reform of the collective forest tenure system, the implementation of collective forest land management rights and forest tree ownership to farmers, and the establishment of farmers as the main body of management
Opinions of the State Forestry Administration on Regulating the Operation of the Collective Forest Ownership Transfer Market 29/07/2016
  • This document defines the scope of forest rights transfer, regulates the principles and order of forest rights transfer, clarifies the qualification conditions of the party who transfers forest rights, and requires the improvement of forest rights transfer services and informatization
Opinions of the State Forestry and Grassland Administration on further liberalizing collective forest management rights 08/05/2018
  • The Opinion calls for the implementation of the separation of ownership, contracting rights and management rights of the collective forest land operation mechanism to implement the ownership, stabilize the contracting rights, release the management rights, and give full play to the functions and overall effectiveness of the "three rights"
  • Encourage various social subjects to participate in the transfer of forest rights through subcontracting, leasing, transfer, shareholding, and cooperation in accordance with laws and regulations, and guide social capital to develop moderate-scale operations
  • On the premise of adhering to the basic status of family management, actively promote the innovation of collective forestry management methods such as family management, collective management, cooperative management, enterprise management, and entrusted management

Regulatory Documents in Northeast China

Heilongjiang Province

Figure3: Grand Canyon Reserve of Heilongjiang Province

Since the Forestry and Grassland Bureau of Heilongjiang Province issued the first notice in 2004 on the forwarding of the "Notice of the State Forestry Administration on Strengthening Forest Land Management of State-owned Forest Farms", along with the policy changes of the Ministry of Forestry and Grassland of China and the development of forestry tenure, it is also based on the case of Heilongjiang Province, a series of laws and regulations related to forest rights have been promulgated, from which it can be seen that the ownership of forest rights, the management of forest land and logging rights, and the relevant laws and regulations on ecological protection and forest restoration are gradually improving. The following is a summary of the regulations related to forest tenure rights in Heilongjiang Province since records were made.

Table4: Regulatory Documents in Heilongjiang Province
Name of Regulation Promulgation Date
Notice on Forwarding the "Notice of the State Forestry Administration on Strengthening Forest Land Management of State-owned Forest Farms" 23/08/2004
Notice of Heilongjiang Forestry Department on Further Clarifying Issues Concerning Forest Resources Management Administrative Licensing 16/01/2012
Notice on issues related to strengthening management of forest land changes 30/10/2017
Heilongjiang Provincial Forestry and Grassland Bureau's notice on printing and distributing "Heilongjiang Provincial Collective Forest Rights Circulation Management Measures (Trial)" 31/12/2018
"Implementation Opinions of the General Office of the People's Government of Heilongjiang Province on Improving the Collective Forest Rights System" 31/12/2018
Heilongjiang Provincial Forestry and Grassland Bureau's notice on doing a good job in forest harvesting management 27/10/2021
Figure4: A snow-covered Cheonchi(heaven Lake) on Changbai(Baekdu) Mountain in Jilin Province

Jilin Province

The Forestry and Grassland Bureau of Jilin Province has issued relevant documents and guidance programs suitable for the province based on the documents issued by the central government and according to local conditions. The following is a summary of the laws and regulations related to forest rights in Jilin Province since the records were kept.

Table5: Regulatory Documents in Jilin Province
Name of Regulation Promulgation Date
Jilin Provincial Collective Forestry Management Regulations 29/09/2000
Opinions of the People's Government of Jilin Province on Deepening the Reform of Collective Forest Rights System 01/11/2007
Jilin Province State-owned Forest Farm Reform Implementation Plan 15/06/2016
Forest Management Regulations of Jilin Province 11/09/2018

Stakeholders of Forest Tenure and Concession

In China, the Forest Law stipulates that: Forest resources are owned by the state, except for those that are collectively owned by law. The ownership of state-owned forest resources is exercised by the State Council on behalf of the state. The State Council may authorize the competent department of natural resources of the State Council to uniformly perform the duties of owners of state-owned forest resources.

The state-owned forest land and the forests and trees on the forest land can be designated for use by forestry operators according to law. The right to use the state-owned forest land and the forests and trees on the forest land obtained by forestry operators according to law may be transferred, leased, and contributed as capital upon approval. Specific measures shall be formulated by the State Council. Forestry operators should fulfill their obligations to protect and cultivate forest resources, ensure the steady growth of state-owned forest resources, and improve forest ecological functions.

Collectively-owned or state-owned forest land used collectively by farmers in accordance with the law is subject to contracted management, the contractor shall enjoy the right to contracted management of the forest land and the ownership of the trees on the contracted forest land, unless otherwise stipulated in the contract. Contractors can transfer forestland management rights, forest tree ownership and use rights by means of leasing (subcontracting), shareholding, and transfer in accordance with the law.

The collective forest land and the trees on the forest land that have not been contracted for management shall be managed uniformly by the rural collective economic organization. With the consent of more than two-thirds of the members of the villagers' meeting of the members of the collective economic organization or more than two-thirds of the villagers' representatives and public announcement, the management rights of forest land, forest tree ownership and use rights can be transferred in accordance with the law through bidding, auction, public consultation, etc.[9]

Main stakeholders:

  • Individuals[17]: Mainly includes farmers, employees in forest areas, and other individuals engaged in forestry management. These management individuals obtain forestry concession through bidding, auction, and public negotiation.
  • Households: The household contract system is mainly based on the decentralized management of forest farmers and their families, who contract out various production tasks to forest farmers. After contracting, the whole process of forestry production is independently managed by the contractor households, and the income is divided between the collective and the contractors.
  • Township and village collectives:Collective forest farms are mainly operated and managed by the township, village, and organization entities, or operated by individuals participating in the form of shares.
  • Enterprises: The main body of China's forest concession is still the state-owned forest industry group. At present, there are five major forest industry groups in China, namely Jilin Forest Industry Group, Longjiang Forest Industry Group, Daxinganling Forestry Group, Inner Mongolia Forest Industry Group, and Changbaishan Forest Industry Group. The following is a brief introduction to Jilin Forest Industry Group:

Jilin Forestry Industry Group, formerly known as Jilin Provincial Logging Company, was founded in April 1950. It mainly manages state-owned forestry enterprises and is affiliated to the Northeast Forestry Industry Bureau. In August 1952, it was directly led by the Forestry Department of the Northeast People's Government. In June 1954, it was renamed Jilin Forestry Industry Administration Bureau, directly under the leadership of the State Forestry Department. Due to historical reasons, Forest Industry Group and the Forestry Department of Jilin Province have experienced a three-in-one three-point development process since May 1958. Until 1993, the country carried out the first batch of 57 large-scale enterprise groups to establish a modern enterprise system pilot, approved by the provincial government. Agreed and approved by the three ministries and commissions of the state, Jilin Forestry Industry Group was officially put into operation in March 1994. It was organized at the department level and directly under the management of the provincial government. In 2004, Jilin Province established the Provincial State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission to exercise the investor function of the group on behalf of the Jilin Provincial Government, and the group became one of the large provincial enterprise groups managed by the Provincial State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.[18] The forest jurisdiction of Jilin Forest Industry Group is located in Changbai Mountain, Jilin Province, with a total operating area of 1.305 million hectares (accounting for 6.96% of the total area of the province), 1.2177 million hectares of forest land, 190 million cubic meters of forest stock, and a forest coverage rate of 93.35%. There are 8 national forest parks, more than 4,000 species of wild animals and plants in the area, more than 10 types of minerals such as molybdenum, gold, copper, and iron, and unique natural mineral water resources and forest tourism resources. Jilin Forest Industry Group has developed and formed an industrial development pattern focusing on forest processing, forest minerals, forest health food, forest eco-tourism and modern service industry.[19]

Large-scale forest industry groups have been directly under the state since their establishment. At the beginning, due to the uniqueness of the history and operation of forest industry enterprises, there was no separation of government and enterprise, enterprise affairs, and enterprise capital. For example, Jilin Forest Industry Group began to manage 26 There are two secondary units, more than 300 third-level units, more than 50 primary and secondary schools, 24 public security agencies, and shops. This is due to the remote location of the forest, and the corresponding government agencies are often established only after the enterprises intervene in the development and operation of a forest area and reach a certain scale, and forestry enterprises naturally act as agents of government functions. Later, with the restructuring of state-owned enterprises, Forest Industry gradually stripped off its social functions and gradually returned the government's administrative power to the government. At the same time, it carried out market-oriented reforms and established joint-stock enterprises. Now the forest industry groups have basically completed the restructuring.

  • Provincial Government(Including provincial forestry management departments): It is mainly responsible for checking the forest resources within the jurisdiction, formulating cutting quotas, issuing forest tenure certificates for individual contractors, supervising forestry administrative law enforcement, and being responsible for the implementation of central policies in the province.
  • Central Government(including the Ministry of Forestry and Grassland): The promulgation of forest laws and regulations, the reform of tenure and the formulation of relevant guiding documents. Overall planning of forest resources throughout China.
  • NGOs and third-party environmental agencies: NGOs carry out relevant environmental protection projects within the forest area, and have a certain role in supervision and education for individuals.

Stakeholder Power Analysis

Table6: Stakeholder Power Analysis
Stakeholder Interested/Affected Power Importance Influence
Individuals Affected Low High Low
Households Affected Low High Low
Township and village collectives Affected High High Medium
Enterprises(State-owned) interested High High Medium
Provincial Government interested High High High
Central Government interested High High High
NGOs and third-party environmental agencies Interested Low Low Medium
Public Interested Low Low Medium
Journalist/Scholar Interested Low Low High

Main management methods of forest concessions:

  • Individual Management: Individual management is the subject with the largest number and widest distribution of non-public forestry in the forest area of Heilongjiang Province. It is the main form in which farmers in collective forest areas and employees in state-owned forest areas participate in forest land management. Individual management mainly occurs in the first non-public forestry sector. industry. Individual management means that after an individual obtains the right to use forest land or the right to manage and protect forest land through collective forest tenure reform, pilot state-owned forest tenure reform, or other means, he does not join forces with other operators, enterprises, or associations, but adopts a "one-family" approach. One household" approach, a form of independent management of the forest land owned by them.
  • Joint Management: There are two main forms of joint management of forest land: one is joint management between individuals; the other is joint management between individuals and other management organizations. 1. Individual and individual joint operation. It means that after the reform of collective forest tenure or the pilot reform of forest tenure in Yichun state-owned forest areas, the individual forest land operators who contract forest land will gather their contracted forest land together, and jointly manage the forest land through voluntary alliance, joint investment and joint labor. The contracted forest land shall be paid according to the agreement. 2. Joint operation between individuals and other operating organizations. It mainly occurs in the field of afforestation or forest land management. Under the circumstances of individual fund shortage and backward technology, the forestry bureau, forest management company, timber company, other forest processing plants and other organizations invest funds, Provide technology or conduct technical training and guidance, and the two parties cooperate in afforestation or joint management of forest land. Joint management is a form of management developed on the basis of individual economy. It is stronger than individual management of forest land and reflects the combination of forestry production factors to a certain extent. between the two forms of business.
  • Joint-stock Management: Joint-stock management is a form of management in which different investment subjects, according to agreements, voluntarily use their own capital, material goods, technology, labor force, forestland use rights and other production factors as shares to organize and engage in state-owned forestland production and management activities. It is a combination of the joint-stock system and the cooperative system, and is an economic form in which different forms of investment are used to form shares and manage forest land according to the specific operating conditions of the state-owned forest land. It can be practiced not only on state-owned forest land, but also on collective forest land. The joint-stock cooperative system management is different from the typical joint-stock system, and the general cooperative system is also different. In fact, it is a special management form that draws on the advantages of both and organizes forest land management. In this mode of operation and management, one shareholder is a state-owned forest farm or a collective forest farm that invests in factors such as forest land and technology, while employees mainly invest in labor.[8]

Existing problems of Tenure and Concession

The Chinese government is beginning a new phase of forestry reforms intended to open the forest sector to much greater individual and corporate participation, largely through private sector financing. Forest tenure reform and government investment in an eco-environmental protection program were found to affect forest condition change to a large extent. By the end of 2018, all state-owned forest farms in China had completed the task of reform. A total of 13.8 billion yuan has been subsidized for state-owned forest farms to completely stop commercial logging of natural forests, and 95% of state-owned forest farms have been designated as public welfare institutions.

For collective forests, the national basic reform tasks of clarifying property rights and contracting to households have been basically completed. The area of collective forest land has been confirmed to be 180 million hectares, accounting for 98.97% of the area included in the reform of the collective forest tenure system. 101 million forest tenure certificates have been issued. 176 million hectares, accounting for 97.65% of the confirmed forest land area, benefiting more than 100 million farmers. There are 257,800 new forestry management entities of various types, and the area of forest land under management is 40 million hectares. The standardization of forest right circulation has been steadily advanced, and the work on forest right mortgage loans has been carried out in an orderly manner. The balance of forest right mortgage loans has reached 127 billion RMB(yuan). [20]

So far, the main reform of the collective forest tenure system has been basically completed, and the supporting reform of the collective forest tenure system, that is, deepening reform, has become an important task for the development of forestry. The supporting reform tasks of the collective forest tenure system mainly include: standardizing forest tenure transfer, expanding forest tenure mortgage loans and forestry insurance, exploring forest harvesting management system.[21]However, in the development of forest concessions, there are still problems in terms of individuals' rights, forest tenure norms, laws and regulations, and supporting services.

Incomplete laws and regulations on the transfer of forest rights

At present, apart from the Forest Law of 1998, there is no law specifically for forestry. Its ownership is mainly based on the Rural Land Contract Law and the Property Law. certain legal basis and guarantee. The 1998 "Forest Law" is still in effect. In its historical background, most of it is in the direction of the planned economy, which protected the forest resources at that time. However, under the conditions of the market economy today, it is necessary for forestry to adapt to the development of the current form of concession reform. , there is an urgent need for a complete and comprehensive law to fill this gap.

The logging quota system in the "Forest Law" is too conservative

The harvesting quota policy not only requires farmers to harvest according to the specified quantity, but also according to the specified time. This is obviously not conducive to farmers choosing the best harvesting period by themselves, and the interests of operators cannot be guaranteed, which limits the use of forest trees to a certain extent. transfer of rights and ownership. Although the "Rural Land Contract Law" and the "Property Law" provide a certain legal basis for the transfer of forest rights, due to the particularity of forest resources, they cannot achieve the goal of promoting the deepening of forestry reform and ensuring the effective transfer of forest rights.

The social service system is not efficient

The socialized services that affect the transfer of forest rights mainly include services for transfer of forest rights, forest asset evaluation services, and information services. The Forest Right Circulation Trading Center is a platform that connects the two parties willing to transfer to reach an effective transaction. Through its advantages of informatization, standardization and specialization, the trading center makes the forest right transaction more fair and reasonable, and can protect the interests of farmers, which in turn will affect farmers Willingness and behavior of forest rights transfer. At present, the forest right trading system in Heilongjiang Province has been established. According to relevant survey results, farmers have insufficient awareness and trust in the forest right trading center, and the proportion of farmers choosing the forest right trading market for forest right transfer is very small, which also reflects This system is not perfect.[21]

The rate of farmers participating in the transfer of forestry rights is low

The optimal allocation of forest land resources requires an active and effective transfer of forest rights to transfer forest land from low-efficiency farmers to high-efficiency operators, so as to improve the production efficiency and quality of products, realize the maximum value of forest land resources, and promote forestry development. The supporting reform of the collective forest tenure system in Heilongjiang Province has been continuously promoted, and the service system for forest tenure transfer has gradually improved. However, problems such as low forest tenure transfer rate, low utilization efficiency of collective forests, and insufficient operating funds still exist.

The transfer of farmers' forest concession is not standardized, individuals lack awareness and education of forest tenure and concession

The number of forestry rights trading centers in Heilongjiang Province is gradually increasing, but farmers have little knowledge and understanding of forestry rights trading centers. It is more willing to choose individuals or collective organizations as transfer intermediaries. The intermediaries of the transfer are mainly individuals or village collectives, the relevant procedures for the transfer are not complete, the contracts signed for the transfer are not standardized, and the rights and responsibilities are not clear. This kind of non-standard transfer can easily lead to disputes over forest rights, increase the difficulty of managing the transfer of forest rights, bring troubles to both sides of the transfer, and bring many unstable factors to the society. On January 7, 2015, the State Forestry Administration released the model texts of the "Collective Forest Land Contract" and "Collective Forest Rights Circulation Contract", requiring all provinces to release the model text of the contracts to guide and regulate the forest rights trading market. Although the model text of the contract has been released, it will take a certain amount of time to intensify publicity and management efforts to implement it in the transfer of forest rights of farmers, so as to realize its role in regulating the transfer of forest rights.

Development Suggestions and Future Prospects of Forest Concession

Existing studies have shown that the total area participating in forest tenure reform has a significant positive impact on forest area, and the variables of tenure reform and the total amount of funds are estimated to be positive determinants of stock volume.[22] Therefore, forest concession reform can not only increase the enthusiasm of forestry workers, and increase the value of forestry commodities and economic benefits, but also improve forest ecology and environmental protection in the long run, creating greater ecological and environmental value. Here are some suggestions and future prospects of forest concession.

  1. Speed up the dispute resolution of forest tenure certificates and clarify the direct legal relationship of forest tenure certificate holders. The registration and confirmation of forest tenure certificates are the basis for stabilizing forest land contracting rights, fully releasing management rights, and regulating the transfer of collective forest rights. For the collective forest lands that still have collective forest tenure disputes, various administrative and judicial means can be adopted for mediation, and forest tenure certificates or real estate certificates will be issued as soon as possible after mediation. The central government should revise and improve operable rules and regulations as soon as possible, including the registration of forest land (forest) ownership, use rights, and management rights, mediation of forest rights disputes, registration of rights certificates, and property rights transactions.
  2. Encourage the transfer of collective forest rights to capable and qualified entities, curb their transfer to speculative forestry management entities, implement a hierarchical filing system, strict entry thresholds, strengthen pre-event, in-process and post-event supervision, and prevent waste Forest land resources will damage the interests of forest farmers and collective economic organizations. For the management entities that have entered the collective forest tenure, take advantage of the opportunity of vocational education expansion to give priority to vocational technical and management training for the main responsible persons and technical personnel of these entities, so as to improve their ability and level of collective forest management.
  3. Reduce government dislocation and offside behavior in the transfer of collective forest rights, and let the market mechanism play a leading role. Specifically, we should start from the following aspects: first, properly resolve the historical issues left over from the transfer of collective forest rights that have expired or are about to expire, and stabilize the expectations of all parties involved in the transfer of collective forest rights; The third is to standardize the zoning of ecological public welfare forests and improve the transparency of forestry zoning. For the transferred forest land classified as ecological public welfare forests, the government can take compensation for the direct losses caused by purchase, storage and payment or exchange forest land Fourth, explore a universal mechanism for forest farmers to withdraw from collective forest land contract rights, and establish operable measures for forest farmers to withdraw from collective forest land contract rights such as housing, schooling, and social security.
  4. Improve the system of laws and regulations on the transfer of collective forest concessions, and strengthen supporting reforms. The first is to give forest individuals the same legal status as the contracting rights and management rights acquired by forest individuals through distribution and the management rights acquired by collective forest rights inflow parties through forest land transfer. The second is to formulate the "Regulations on Forest Resource Circulation", revise and promulgate policies and regulations related to forest ownership registration management and forest asset mortgage, evaluation, and property rights transactions. The third is to promulgate the nationally unified and highly operable "Forest Assets Evaluation Management Measures" and "Forest Right Circulation Management Regulations" to standardize forest asset evaluation management, forest right transfer contract management, forest right change registration, information release, etc. Establish a third-party evaluation mechanism for collective forest rights transactions. The fourth is to strengthen the follow-up management of the transfer of collective forest rights, guide the establishment of supporting service systems for the transfer of forest rights in various regions, improve the system of transfer of forest rights, and gradually promote the contract insurance for transfer of collective forest rights. The fifth is to establish and improve supporting measures for the transfer of collective forest rights, including collective forest land purchase and storage, trading platforms, forest policy insurance, and forest right mortgage loans.
  5. Accelerate the construction of information sharing platform for forest land tenure. Improve the openness, sharing, and symmetry of collective forest tenure information, and provide a reliable information basis for collective forest tenure management, forest tenure transactions, and mortgage loans. Change the situation that the forest tenure management platform is fragmented, the information system used is low in standardization and has a single function. Building a forest tenure information platform that integrates forest tenure registration (including changes), certificate issuance, cancellation, transaction, mortgage, disposal, and logging certificate issuance with national information exchange is the basis for enhancing the scientific nature of forest tenure management. It is necessary to straighten out the relationship between the rural comprehensive trading market and the forestry property right trading market, and effectively strengthen the standardized management of forestry property trading.
  6. Improve the mechanism of linking interests. The first is to support the inflow of collective forest rights to build a close interest linkage mechanism with forest farmers through cooperation, trusteeship, and shareholding; the second is to encourage the inflow of collective forest rights to create employment opportunities for forest farmers; the third is to encourage the inflow of collective forest rights to participate in collective For infrastructure construction in forest areas, discounts will be returned upon maturity.[23]

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This conservation resource was created by Haowei Wang.