Coping with climate change is the common responsibility of the international community. The Chinese government has actively responded to the climate change and issued recently China 's National Climate Change Program. Forest sector, as a member of the newly-established National Leading Group to Address Climate Change, Energy Saving and Emission Reduction should play an active role and make due contribution. China's forestry should follow the requirements of scientific development concept, strictly carry out the relative tasks in China's National Climate Change Program, place a series of measures including increasing carbon fixation by forests in a proper position, fully bring out forest's great potential in carbon sequestration, and make an active contribution to mitigating and adapting climate change.
(I) Speeding up the pace of afforestation and silviculture to expand cultivation and management of forest resources. It is to conduct the nationwide compulsory tree planting campaign and promote continuously implementation of key forestry programs including Natural Forest Protection Program, Conversion of Cropland to Forest Program, Forest Industrial Base Development Program in Key Regions with a Focus on Fast-growing and High-yield Timber Plantations, the Shelterbelt Development Program in the “Three North” and the Yangtze River Basin, Sandification Control Program and Wetland Conservation and Rehabilitation Program. Natural forests should be well protected and managed to promote shift of natural forest ecosystem from degradation to rehabilitation. The step of tree planting and afforestation on barren and sandy lands needs to be quickened and plantation scale to be appropriately enlarged to gradually increase forest area and resources. The efforts should be made to make forest cover reach 20 percent of the total land area by 2010 and over 26 percent by 2050, by then, over 80 million ha of forest area will be increased. The annual net absorption of equivalent CO2 by China 's forests will be increased by 90.4 percent compared with that in 1990. The forest tending and management require enhancement, and mountain (sand) closure for natural regeneration, middle-aged and young forest tending need to be conducted to improve quality of existing forest stands. We strive, in the next 30 to 50 years, to double forest annual increment, reaching 1 billion m3 and to double carbon sequestration of forest ecosystem.
(II) Strengthening protection and management of forest, vegetations in sandy land areas and wetlands and effective conservation of existing forest resources and nature ecosystem. Exam and approval system of logging quota and occupation and requisition of forest land must be improved and implemented, timber logging and forestland protection and management be strictly carried out, various kinds of criminal activities of destroying forest resources including illegal occupation and requisition of forest land, and illegal and devastative timber cutting be stopped to have effective protection of forest resources. The comprehensive monitoring system of nationwide forest resources and status of ecology, and monitoring, warning, prevention and control system of forest fire and pests and diseases will be set up and improved to prevent and control forest fire, pests and diseases. Wildlife Conservation and Nature Reserves Development Program and Wetland Conservation and Rehabilitation Program and Sandification Control Program should be implemented in order to expand wetland and nature reserve areas and increase vegetation cover in sandy land areas. In 2010, the area of nature reserves in China will account for 16 percent of the total land area, about 90 percent of the typical forest ecosystem and national key wildlife will be effectively protected; 22 million ha of sandification land will be effectively controlled; 50 percent of the natural wetland with the area of about 18 million ha will be under effective protection, and the forest's absorption and fixation of carbon dioxide and emission reduction will be further increased.
(III) Developing forestry biomass energy. The State Forestry Administration will sponsor together with China National Petroleum Corporation to establish China Green Carbon Fund in order to encourage enterprises to participate in development of forestry biomass energy and in tree planting and forest management for carbon sequestration. We will provide subsidy for tree planting, make tax revenue policy, draw funds from the society and invest funds into afforestation. The compensation system of ecological forests for public benefits must be improved and forest classification and reform be carried out. The biomass energy relevant to forests should be actively developed and biomass energy plantation bases be established. It is planned to set up 13.333 million ha of high-yield and good-quality biomass energy plantation bases in 15 years. The State Forestry Administration will respectively have cooperation with China National Petroleum Corporation and China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Import & Export Corporation to cultivate and develop forestry biomass energy and produce biological diesel oil and ethanol, and use biomass to generate electricity in order to increase clean energy supply and replace chemical and petroleum fuels. China National Petroleum Corporation has planned to invest RMB 300 million yuan into afforestation and forest management and into establishment of biomass energy plantation bases, aiming at absorbing and fixing CO2. It is expected that 5-10 million tons of CO2 can be absorbed in 10 years.
(IV) Promoting timber saving and rational use of timber and increasing carbon storage function of wooden forest products. Activities of fuel-wood saving by refitting stoves in vast mountainous and forest areas and replacing fuel-wood with coal, gas and electricity should be conducted to reduce timber consumption. Development and use biogas and other renewable energy by taking measures suited to local conditions in forest areas should be encouraged and supported. Fuel wood forests will be actively established, and people are encouraged to use fast-growing timber and composite materials to promote integrated use of timber. Classified recovery and reuse of old and waste wood products should be carried out to raise reuse rate of timber resource and increase indirectly timber supply.
(V) Improving and implementing relevant laws and regulations and policy mechanism. The Forest Law and Wildlife Conservation Law need to be revised, and special laws and regulations including Law on Nature Reserves, and Rules and Regulations on Wetland Conservation, Nature Forest Conservation and Forests, Trees and Forest Land Use Rights Circulation must be promulgated as soon as possible. It is to add and intensify the legal provisions responding to climate change in relevant laws and regulations. Law enforcement system and dynamic supervision mechanism need to be improved and law enforcement and inspection be enhanced. Tree-planting target management responsibility of the governments at different levels and greening responsibility of different departments should be continuously improved, forms of nationwide compulsory tree planting be developed and relevant policies be made. Fund and technical inputs need to be increased and policy support be provided. It is to set up long-term and effective working mechanism of China 's forestry coping with climate change.
(VI) Strengthening technical research and development, extension and application. Development and research on techniques of preventing and controlling forest fire, pests and diseases, on selection of tree species with cold, draught, pest and disease resistance will be conducted to increase competitiveness and adaptability of forest plants in climatic adaptation and migration. The technology of biodiversity conservation and rehabilitation, especially relevant techniques of conservation and rehabilitation of nature reserves in forest and wildlife types, wetland, mangrove forests, conservation of endangered wild fauna and flora, establishment of fast-growing and high yield timber forests and fuel wood forests should be developed and used to reduce impacts of climate change on biodiversity. Positioning observation and monitoring of forest resources and forest eco-system, and monitoring technique of ecological environment should be strengthened in order to increase alarm and emergency capability.
