China's Deforestation No Longer Driven Mainly By Poverty--Part 2 of 2

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At 62 percent, Fujian Province boasts the highest forest coverage rate in China. Yet as its natural forests are replaced with fast-growing tree plantations, the province has experienced worsening flooding and other natural disasters in recent years. This has alarmed experts like Li Zhenji, Associate Professor of Ecology at Xiamen University, who is studying the links between forest loss and disasters. According to Li, the thick layers of vegetation and dead wood found in natural forests readily retain rain water, thereby controlling surface flow. But as China’s native evergreen groves are cleared and replaced (in Fujian, first with Chinese red pine forests, then with high-yielding eucalyptus and other species), this significantly reduces their ability to retain water.

As one of southern China’s major forest regions, Fujian Province has seen a growing deficit in its forest resources, with annual consumption far exceeding net annual growth over the past four decades. The trend reversed slightly during China’s nationwide “greening” campaign in the 1990s, but most new plantations are monoculture plots such as fruit orchards, fir, pine, or eucalyptus. During the early stages of growth, the ability of these trees to retain water is exceptionally poor, and even moderate precipitation may cause severe flooding.

Yang Yusheng, Professor of Ecology with Fujian Normal University, has found that natural forests retain nearly all the rainwater that falls when precipitation is under 200 millimeters, while in regions with monoculture plantations and orchards, this same level of precipitation can trigger flooding. Flooding and droughts typically account for more than 60 percent of the damage done by natural disasters in China, and soil erosion from water runoff is considered a leading factor behind rural poverty. 

Case studies by Professor Li show that natural forests in Fujian’s northern Jian’ou City have been gradually converted to bamboo forests and orchards since the 1980s, and these now cover for one-tenth of the total area. In 1998, the city witnessed its worst deluge in 200 years, and this year, the flooding has been even more devastating, resulting in postponement of the national higher education examination. Jianning County, in northwestern Fujian province, was hit by severe flooding in 2002 for similar reasons.

The impact of intensified human activities on Fujian’s natural broadleaf forests has jeopardized fragile ecosystems once nurtured by rich vegetation. “The priority in flood control is to sort out the correlation between mountains and water,” Yang says. “In order to harness the water, you have to treat the mountain first. In order to treat the mountains, you have to make the forests prosper.” If you don’t tackle the root of the problem (i.e., restore the vegetation in eroded areas), he explains, crop yields and soil quality will continue to deteriorate.

Fujian Province will likely suffer from worsening natural disasters if fast-growing and high-yielding plantations continue to expand at the expense of natural forests. In addition to exacerbating flooding, the poor water retention capability of monoculture plantations could also trigger landslides and other geological disasters. Yet in most cases, these “natural” disasters are in fact human-caused, due to excessive logging of China’s native forestland. With prevention always better than cure, scientists note, the best way to prevent such incidents is to better protect the region’s natural forests.

Better protection, however, requires stricter implementation of forestry laws and regulations as well as due punishment of those who violate them. This is not always easy. In Fuzhu Village, where logging has accelerated significantly in recent years (see Part 1 of this story), villagers Zheng Wenxi and Wu Qingui say that timber company Fangte Company started cutting down forests without initially obtaining a logging license. “The natural forests were very difficult to log, so they set fire to them and then cleared whatever survived the fire,” they explain. Yet state regulations prohibit setting fire on any plots where there are forests.

Fuzhu villagers tried desperately to bring Fangte’s illegal practices to the attention of local forestry and law officials, but to little avail. “When we reported their activity to the local forestry bureau, the authorities started issuing all kinds of documents or certificates to cover up for them, and even framed local residents for illegal logging,” they explain. But, they add, even the local forestry bureau would only issue a logging license for roughly 13 hectares of clearing, even though the actual area cleared was far larger. And when residents reported Fangte’s practices to local forest law enforcement officials, they were told, “there were no forests on that land.” “We invited them to come see the remaining stumps,” the villagers explain. “And if they still didn’t believe what they saw, we offered to go over to the forestry information center, bring up the old satellite maps, and show them how prosperous the natural forests used to be!”

Scientists have noted that while it is environmentally damaging to cut down trees, it can be equally harmful to plant new ones. Experts believe that the trend of “cutting down trees to replant trees” in south China, though still largely overlooked, is likely to become one of the country’s major environmental challenges—encouraging the “invisible” yet ecologically damaging replacement of natural forests. Meanwhile, authorities who are paid to be the stewards of China’s forests are aiding the destructive activities of logging companies by issuing documents of dubious legality. Their complicity in such actions, if not properly checked, will expedite the already rapid disappearance of China’s remaining natural forests.

Outside contributions to China Watch reflect the views of the author, and are not necessarily the views of the Worldwatch Institute.