"Sanctioned" Illegal Logging Encroaches on China's Remaining Natural Forests

China Watch Home About China Watch

Thousands of hectares of natural forests are being eliminated to make room for fast-growing tree plantations in Liu Shun County in southwestern Yunnan province, according to a recent exposé by China’s Central Television (CCTV). The logging operations, which have turned lush hillsides into barren wastelands, have enjoyed the green light from village and county officials as well as local forestry authorities. This collusion between government officials and business interests endangers one of the few remaining intact forest landscapes in China.

Workers at one logging site told CCTV that the more than 60-hectare section of natural forest they were felling had been bought by a private businessman. Here and elsewhere, high-quality timbers will be transported out of the region and sold, while the remaining wood will be stockpiled to feed plywood or pulp and paper factories. Dozens of plywood factories dot the area around the site, with the smallest facility having an annual processing capacity of more than 1 million cubic meters of wood.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, according to Qing Wenqiang, a local villager who told CCTV that “there are at least 100 such sites” in Liu Shun County alone. Residents estimate that thousands of hectares of natural forests are being cut down in the region.

County officials contend that the villagers themselves sold the forests off to businessmen, since the forests at issue were collectively owned by various villages under the county’s jurisdiction. Two contracts obtained by CCTV indicate a deal in which one villager group sells a timber company more than 530 hectares of natural forests, home to more than 13,000 cubic meters of timber, at the astoundingly low price of less than 1,500 RMB (US $270 dollars) per hectare, a price below that of even ten trees. “Basically the contracts are determined by villager groups themselves through meetings,” explained county official Li Jiankang.

“They cheated my grandson into signing the contract,” argued Qing Wenqiang, whose grandson was only 15 years old at the time. Qing also disclosed that the village accountant signed the contracts in the name of four other villagers, while the head of the group inked his fingerprints. “We are not clear whether they signed the contracts or not, but there are a lot of fingerprints on the contracts,” said Li, the county official. No public explanation of the contracts has been made available to villagers, and many local farmers lack the literacy skills to read and understand them.

Perhaps most shocking, however, is the fact that the pervasive logging has gained approval from the very government agencies that should be acting as guardians of the region’s forestry resources. The local forestry authority issued certificates to business interests for clearing natural forests to “improve low-yielding forests,” and the area earmarked for logging greatly exceeds the area legally permitted under a national forestry regulation for cutting at a single time: five hectares.

“The area will be replanted,” said one logger at the 60-hectare site. But the trees to be planted are fast-growing, high-yielding trees that have high economic value, such as Simao pine and eucalyptus—ideal feedstock for paper and plywood factories but lacking in the diversity needed for a healthy ecosystem.

“All are destroyed. There is nothing left for our children and grandchildren,” sighed local villager Qing Wenqiang.