China and the Asia-Pacific: Forest Markets for Sustainable Livelihoods and Forests

China's forest product imports have grown dramatically in recent years, catapulting the country to a top role in world trade in the sector.  Rapid expansion of manufacturing and domestic consumption, in a nation with very limited per capita forest resources, have fueled the rise in imports. While China's increased forest product demand has affected supplying countries worldwide, impacts are particularly marked in the Asia Pacific Region.  Forest-rich Asia Pacific countries are seeing increasing amounts of their resources head for China.  In many cases, increasing trade flows are associated with issues such as unsustainable harvesting, corruption, and lack of satisfactory livelihood opportunities for forest-dependent communities.  Identification of priority issues and possible solutions, however, requires a clearer understanding of the status of and trends associated with the forest sectors and forest product trade of China's Asia Pacific suppliers.  

Since early 2000 Forest Trends and the Chinese Center for Agricultural Policy (CCAP)have worked with partners in China and across the region to fill information gaps and build a knowledge base on the Chinese forest market and the industry and export trade of China's Asia Pacific supplying countries. Initiative partners are engaged in three types of activities:

• Analysing Chinese market trends and policies and the impacts and implications of these trends on China and supplying countries;
• Strengthening networks of forest market and policy analysts and advocates in China and the East Asian region; and
• Engaging policy and market leaders in China and key supplying countries in East Asia to advance pro-poor policy and market reforms.

Key partners include CIFOR, the Forest Economics and Development Research Center of the Chinese State Forest Administration (FEDRC), the World Agroforestry Center , the Chinese Academy of Forestry, the University of British Columbia , the Economic Research Institute of Khabarovsk, Russia , the Bureau for Regional Campaigns (BROC), and the Foundation for People and Community Development, Papua New Guinea . The initiative is primarily supported by the United Kingdom's Department for International Development.

Below is a list of publications and meetings the initiative has produced so far.

Publications:
VIEW LIST OF ALL RECENT PUBLICATIONS OF THE CHINA EAST-ASIA PROGRAM

NEW! Forest Products Trade Between China & Africa: An Analysis of Imports & Exports
by Kerstin Canby, James Hewitt, Luke Bailey, Eugenia Katsigris and Sun Xiufang

NEW! Investment in the Liberian Forest Sector: A Roadmap to Legal Forest Operations in Liberia
By John Woods, Arthur G. Blundell, Robert Simpson

NEW ISSUE! THE CHINA EAST-ASIA INFO BULLETIN SERIES

NEW! Why China Prefers Logs: Explaining the Prevalence of Unprocessed Wood in China’s Timber Imports
By Robert Kozak and Kerstin Canby

NEW! Forest Products Trade Between Russia & China: Potential Production, Processing, Consumption and Trade Scenarios
By Steven Northway and Gary Q. Bull

Environmental Aspects of China's Papermaking Fiber Supply
by Brian Stafford

Russian Logs In China: The Softwood Commodity Chain & Chinese Economic Development
by Song Weiming, Cheng Baodong, Zhang Shengdong and Meng Xianggang.

Linking Timber Trade and Forest Practice: How the UK Uses Market Power to Tackle Illegal Logging [China-East Asia Info Bulletin #3]
by Forest Trends | Chinese |

The European Union's Action Plan for Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade [China-East Asia Info Bulletin #6]
Summary and Chinese translation by Xiufang Sun (Forest Trends). | Chinese |

Helping Liberia Escape Conflict Timber [China-East Asia Info Bulletin #5]
by Kerstin Canby (Forest Trends) | Chinese |

Illegal Logging Briefing Paper [China-East Asia Info Bulletin #2]
by Duncan Brack (Chatham House) | Chinese |

China and the Global Market for Forest Products [China-East Asia Info Bulletin #1]
Summary and Chinese translation by Xiufang Sun (Forest Trends) | Chinese |

China and the Global Market for Forest Products: Transforming Trade to Benefit Forests and Livelihoods
by Andy White, Xiufang Sun, Kerstin Canby, Jintao Xu, Christopher Barr, Eugenia Katsigris, Gary Bull, Christian Cossalter and Sten Nilsson

New Forest Trend Report Shows Logging in Papua New Guinea Illegal (Vol. 1-3)

Forest Product Exports From the Russian Far East and Eastern Siberia to China: Status and Trends
by Alexey Lankin
| Russian |

Siberian and Russian Far East Timber for China: Legal and Illegal Pathways, Players, and Trends
by Anatoly Lebedev
| Russian |

China's Forest Product Exports: An Overview of Trends by Segment and Destinations
by Xiufang Sun, Nian Cheng and Kerstin Canby

China's Collective Forestlands: Contributions and Constraints
by Guangping Miao and R. Anders West

China Softwood-Log Commodity Chain and Livelihood Analysis: From the Russian Far East to China
by Alexander Sheingauz, Anatoly Lebedev and Natalia Ye Antonova

Central Plans and Global Exports: Tracking Vietnam's Forestry Commodity Chains and Export Links to China
by Keith Barney

The China Forest Products Trade: Overview of Asia-Pacific Supplying Countries, Impacts, and Implications
Eugenia Katsigris, Gary Bull, Andy White, Christopher Barr, Keith Barney, Yati
Bun, Fredrich Kahrl, Timothy King, Alexey Lankin, Anatoly Lebedev, Phil
Shearman, Alexander Sheingauz, Yufang Su, and Horst Weyerhaeuser
| English | Chinese |

A Brief Overview of China's Timber Market
by Xiufang Sun, Liqun Wang, and Zhenbin Gu

At the Supply Edge: Thailand's Forest Policies, Plantation Sector, and Commodity Export Links with China
by Keith Barney

Customs, Concessionaires and Conflict: Tracking Cambodia's Forest Commodity Chains and Export Links with China
by Keith Barney

The International Forestry Review - Special Issue "Forestry in China - policy consumption in forestry's newest superpower"
(Please note that this is a rather large file (>7 MB). Individual articles will be available soon).

From IFR Special Issue: A brief overview of China's timber market
by Xiufang Sun, Liqun Wang and Zhenbin Gu

From IFR Special Issue: Understanding the Chinese forest market and its global implications (Editorial)
by Jintao Xu and Andy White

From IFR Special Issue: An assessment of China's forest resources
by Gary Bull and Sten Nilsson

From IFR Special Issue: Meeting China's demand for forest products: An overview of Asia-Pacific supplying countries, impacts and implications
by Xiufang Sun, Eugenia Katsigris and Andy White

From IFR Special Issue: The China forest products trade: Overview of Asia-Pacific supplying countries, impacts and implications
by Eugenia Katsigris, Gary Bull, Andy White, Chris Barr, Keith Barney, Yati Bun, Timothy King, Alexey Lankin, Anatoly Lebedev, Phil Shearman, Alexander Sheingauz, Yufang Su, and Horst Weyerhaeuser

From IFR Special Issue: China's pulp and paper sector: An analysis of supply-demand trends and medium term projections
by Dequan He and Chris Barr

From IFR Special Issue: China's development of a plantation-based wood pulp industry: Government policies, financial incentives, and investment trends
by Chris Barr and Christian Cossalter

From IFR Special Issue: China's collective forestlands: Contributions and constraints
by Guangping Miao and R. Anders West

From IFR Special Issue: China's forest sector markets: Policy issues and recommendations
by Sten Nilsson, Gary Bull, Andy White and Jintao Xu

An Overview of the Market Chain for China's Timber Product Imports from Myanmar
by Fredrich Kahrl, Horst Weyerhaeuser, and Su Yufang

China's Impact on Papua New Guinea's Forestry Industry
by Yati Bun, Timothy King and Phil Shearman

Overview of the Forest Sector in the Russian Far East: Production, Industry and the Problem of Illegal Logging
by Alexander Sheingauz

Navigating the Border: An Analysis of the China-Myanmar Timber Trade
by Fredrich Kahrl, Horst Weyerhaeuser, and Su Yufang

Meeting China's Demand for Forest Products: An Overview of Import Trends, Ports of Entry, and Supplying Countries, with Emphasis on the Asia-Pacific Region
by Xiufang Sun, Eugenia Katsigiris and Andy White
Short Version in English | Short Version in Chinese

China's Forest Product Import Trends 1997-2002: Analysis of Customs Data with Emphasis on Asia-Pacific Supplying Countries
by Xiufang Sun, Nian Cheng, Andy White, R. Anders West and Eugenia Katsigiris

Developing Markets for Water Services from Forests: Issues and Lessons for Innovators
by Nels Johnson, Andy White and Danièle Perrot-Maîtrele
|in Chinese|

Meetings: (click for more details)

New! Beijing, China 2005:
China & Asia Pacific: Forest Markets for Sustainable Livelihoods and Forests - Regional Network and Trade Scenarios Workshop

Beijing & Fujian, China 2005:
"Property Matters: Collective Forest Policy Issues and Opportunities"

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2004:
The Future of Forests in East Asia and China: New Markets for Ecosystem Services / Trends in Regional Forest Trade and Finance

Beijing, China 2004:
International Forum on Investment and Finance in China's Forestry Sector

Shanghai, China 2001:
From Forest to Furniture: New Green Market Opportunities for China

Huang Shán, China 2001:
Market-based Approaches to Sustainable Forestry Development and Forestry-based Poverty Alleviation: Global Trends and Implications for China

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This work is funded by the Department for International Development*.

*While the Department for International Development has provided financial support for this publication, the findings and views presented do not necessarily reflect UK government policy.