Forests
Despite the necessity of forest protection being widely
commit the parties to collaborate on tackling the issue of illegal
recognized, the rapid pace of deforestation still remains
logging and trade, there are no national or provincial timber
a global concern for all governments — and China is no
purchasing policies in place in China. While China has been
exception. Deforestation is a primary cause of diminishing
proactive in many multilateral and bilateral wood purchasing
biodiversity, ecological degradation, flooding, and soil
processes, the Chinese government has not introduced a
erosion. A report from the IPCC states that deforestation also
national wood procurement policy or implemented processes
contributes greatly to global climate change.143 Unfortunately,
to trace the origin of timber entering the country. The Chinese
virgin forests around the world, especially tropical rainforests,
government needs to strengthen their work in this area.
are still logged heavily to meet the current unsustainable demands of economic development. Every two seconds, a forest area the size of a soccer field vanishes.144 As the world’s largest log importer, China has a great responsibility to work with international organizations and other governments to protect the world’s endangered forests.
At the same time, the Chinese government has begun encouraging governmental departments to adopt green procurement policies in order to set an example for industries and to raise social awareness around sustainable purchasing. The Department of Finance and the State Environmental Protection Administration has released a “Preferential Purchasing Guideline for Products with Environmental Labeling” for governmental departments.145 However, these guidelines do not require the origin of timber to be legally verified nor do they suggest a preferential FSC-certified timber procurement process. The issue of whether or not to adopt or to widely implement FSC standards in China is still being debated amongst governmental departments. Thus currently, FSC, an internationally recognized timber certification system, has not been widely adopted in China’s domestic markets or been taken up amongst industries heavily involved in exporting timber products to overseas markets. Although BOCOG released an “Environmental Protection Guidelines for Olympic Project” in 2002, these guidelines do not suggest sustainable wood purchasing or require that a tracking system be implemented to trace where wood products are sourced. However, in a May 30, 2006 press
As one of the largest developing countries, in recent
release regarding whether or not Olympic venues would use
years, China has demonstrated some willingness to share
timber sourced from the tropical forests of Indonesia, BOCOG
responsibility for the world’s global environmental problems.
clearly presented their position in support of following the
Aside from some memoranda of understanding signed with
principals of the green Games. BOCOG took a strong stance
countries such as Indonesia and the United States which
and opposed the use of virgin timber and supported the use
143. United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. Global Forest Resources Assessment, 2005. www.fao.org/forestry/fra2005 144. United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. Global Forest Resources Assessment, 2005. www.fao.org/forestry/fra2005 145. Department of Finance and the State Environmental Protection Administration “Implementing environmental labeling on government procured products” guidelines. http://www.ccgp.gov.cn/purgjlaw/hongtou.jsp?condition=822
30
