China will completely stop commercial logging of natural forests

From "deforestation" to "forest protection", from "development and utilization" to "comprehensive protection"-nowadays, this green transformation is taking place in more and more forest farms in our country.

The 13th five-year Plan proposes to improve the protection system of natural forests, completely stop commercial logging of natural forests, and increase forest area and volume. "this is a major decision to restore forest resources, build a complete forest ecosystem, and ensure the ecological security of the land." Cheng Hong, spokesman for the State Forestry Administration, said that stopping commercial logging of natural forests in an all-round way is an urgent need to protect China's precious natural forest resources and promote the construction of ecological civilization in an all-round way.

Natural forest is the essence of forest resources in China, which plays an irreplaceable role in maintaining ecological balance and protecting biodiversity. Since 1998, China has implemented natural forest resources protection projects in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River, the Northeast, Inner Mongolia and other key state-owned forest areas. Through the implementation of the natural protection project, the consumption and destruction of forest resources have been greatly reduced. At present, the ecological function of the project area has been significantly improved, the function of water conservation has been significantly enhanced, and the population of wild animals and plants has been increasing.

However, the problems such as the fragility of the ecosystem of the natural forests which have not been included in the natural protection project are still serious. At the same time, due to the long-term over-exploitation, in order to gradually restore, there is an urgent need to strengthen the protection of natural forests. Zhang Jianlong, director of the State Forestry Administration, said that commercial harvesting is now nearly 50 million cubic meters a year, which is replaced by 80 million cubic meters of forest stock.

The reporter learned that the complete cessation of commercial logging of natural forests has been listed by the State Forestry Administration as the focus of forestry reform and development during the 13th five-year Plan period. The next five years will be crucial for the national natural forest.

Zhang Jianlong revealed that all commercial logging of natural forests will be stopped by 2017. Stopping felling is mainly divided into three steps: to expand the pilot project of commercial felling of natural forests in key state-owned forest areas in Northeast China and Inner Mongolia; on this basis, stop commercial felling of natural forests in state-owned forest farms and other state-owned forest areas; and stop commercial felling of natural forests in an all-round way.

Since April 1 last year, commercial logging of natural forests in key state-owned forest areas in Heilongjiang has been completely stopped. One year later, the scope of logging suspension was extended to the key state-owned forest areas of Inner Mongolia and Jilin, as well as hundreds of state-owned forest farms that were not included in the natural protection project within the eighth Bureau of Lingnan, the fourth Bureau of Jilin Ying and Daxing'an Mountains.

The suspension of logging in key state-owned forest areas declares that the history of over-taking from forests for more than 100 years has come to an end, and marks a new stage of development in key state-owned forest areas from development and utilization to comprehensive protection. Stopping logging breaks the original interest chain of state-owned forest farms and forest areas, forms a forced reform mechanism, speeds up the transformation of forest industry enterprises, and promotes continuous innovation in the reform of forest management system.