Local Impacts and Responses to Regional Forest Conservation and Rehabilitation Programs in China's Northwest Yunnan province

background

This article reviews large-scale government reforestation activities in Yunnan Province, China. Agricultural development in the past half century in the Salween and Mekong watersheds in northwest Yunnan has resulted in severe erosion. The government has recently banned logging and instituted large-scale reforestation programs at the same time. These reforestation projects use Pyrus pyrifolia, Pinus yunnanensis and Pinus armandii.

Conclusions & Takeaways

After interviewing farmers and forestry staff, the authors find that the local forestry staff may not have the capacity to meet the needs of the farmers and the reforestation project as a whole. There is not enough diversity of planted trees to make it economically worthwhile for farmers because local timber prices are low. Agencies may not have the funds or capacity to implement and monitor the reforestation because they derive part of their income from timber sales. The government reforestation targets are only set as a percent of forest cover and do not concern specific areas; because farmers can choose which areas to reforest, they may not meet the goals of soil erosion prevention. Low diversity of planted tree species may also contribute to the low ecological value of the reforestation.