Green Wood Procurement and Sustainable Forest Management Project TNC China’s efforts on Combating Illegal Logging and associated Trade

-- Background -- Objectives -- Working partners -- Project activities -- Next step --- Opportunities and challenges

The Nature Conservancy (TNC)  Founded in 1951 and headquartered in Washington DC as a non-profit NGO in biodiversity conservation ;  TNC works in all 50 United States and 32 countries;  protected more than 117 million acres of land and 5,000 miles of river around the world;  TNC has 3,200 employees worldwide;  Using a non-confrontational, science based approach.

TNC China Program  Invited by Chinese government, started working in NW Yunnan Province in 1998 ;  So far over 60 staff and 6 offices in China and working on various conservation relevant issues;  Beijing office set up in late 2002 and focused on 5 national level projects including initiated Green Wood Procurement and Sustainable Forest Management Project in late 2004

1. Project Background -- illegal logging and associated trade became one of most important threats to biodiversity conservation globally; -- Quickly increased wood importation in China; -- Rapidly disappeared rare natural forest in major supply counties; -- Attentions on market driver; -- China is indispensable part of whole solution. -- TNC 2015 goal: TNC will work with partners to protect 10% of wide animal and plant habitat globally

2.Project Objectives Transparent the wood flow imported in China Increasing domestic legal and sustainable wood demand and supply project objectives Bilateral and Multi- lateral dialogue Stakeholder solutionsNational Policy influence

Specifically : -- Promoting Chinese government work with supplying and final consuming countries to make the timber trade flow more transparent and to reduce or ban suspicious wood importation ( wood without proof of legality )/ bilaterally and regionally; -- Catalyzing green wood procurement policy be adopted by public and private sectors in China; -- Assisting in Improving legal and sustainable wood supply capacity in China ( support SFM practices and Chinese national forest certification scheme );

3. Partners Governmental agencies: State Forestry Administration (SFA), Chinese General Administration of Customs, Ministry of Commerce, Asian Pacific Regional Intelligence Liaison Office (RILO-AP) Industry Association: China Timber Circulation Association, Forestry Industry Association Academic research institutions Beijing Forestry University, Chinese Academy of Forestry etc. Communication and cooperation with other NGOs

4. Project Activities 4.1 Researches Finished three primary analysis as baseline in 2004/05

Relevant Chinese Government Authorities State Council Ministry of Commerce Department of Foreign Trade Trade Development Bureau General Administration of Customs Quality Supervision, Inspection, Quarantine State Forestry Administration Planning and Finance Department International Cooperation Dept. National CITES Office

Chinese International Trade Law Chinese customs law State law level Quarantine law of import or export animals and plants in China Regulation of commodity import and export Regulation of origin of imported and exported cargo Customs administrative punishment regulations Laws and regulations at ministry level Registration regulation foreign trade companies etc Implementation of regulation of the quarantine law of import or export animals and plants Examination and approve regulation of import and export of animals and plants The import of logs inspection regulations Permission document for import and export of wild animals and plants ImplementerM OC ImplementerG AC Implementer: AQSIQ Implementer CITES Office Regulation of Origin of goods in Free Trade Zone between China and ASEAN Their major role and responsibilities

Customs documentation request and declaration process Customs declaration application form. Commercial invoice. Packing list. Trade contract. Bill of lading or transport document. Certificate of origin. Entry permit certification from AQSIQ. And if import wood products are covered by CITES, importer need to show the export country’s export permission and get import permission documents from China CITES office. Local customs offices Customs directly under GCA jurisdiction Local customs offices Monitoring Commodities flow before document checks Electronic dates application for passing customs Centralized documents check Accepting and checking written documents and cargos in local customs offices Pass through process Monitoring Commodities flow after documents check Issuing an approvement of foreign exchange payment for importer related prove document(refund the tax) Checking Document Checking and contradistinguish system Commodities flow Monitoring and controlling system Professional management system

Major laws and regulations Existed laws and regulations related to wood trade in China including: International trade law. Regulation of commodity import and export. Customs law. Regulation of origin of imported and exported cargo. Customs administrative punishment regulations. Quarantine law on import or export of animals and plants. Implementation of regulation of the quarantine law of import or export animals and plants. Examination and approval regulation of import and export of animals and plants. The import of logs inspection regulation. Permission document for import and export of wild animals and plants.

Overall: - No legal framework to address the illegal logging and trade; - No in priority; - cooperation needed with producing countries and final consuming countries; State Forestry administration Low awareness Willing to listen dialogue with multi-stakeholders

Ongoing Researches: Computable General Equilibrium Model) -- Macro and Micro Economic impacts caused by wood import fluctuation in China (Computable General Equilibrium Model) -- Cost and Benefit analysis for adopting green public wood procurement in China

4. Project activities 4.2 with government ---- Organized China delegation which including officials and business leaders to attend the TFD Hong Kong meeting in March, 2005; --- Facilitated Chinese officials to participate the regional discussion process in 2005 and 2006; -- Set up consultation discussions with officials from Customs and RILO-AP in 2006; -- Co-sponsored the 3rd China Forest Forum with SFA in September 2006 in Beijing; --- organized a study trips for 5 high SFA officials to Indonesia and Australia to learn experiences and exchange information of combating illegal logging & trade and SFM practices in Nov. 2006; ---- Assisted SFA in developing national guidelines on regulating Chinese forestry business's harvest, a/reforestation, wood purchase behaviors oversea from the end of 2006;

4. Project activities 4.3 with business -- Field survey to 6 Chinese Forestry Businesses and Zhang Jiagang Port in 2005; -- Set up good relations with Domestic industry association( Rui Li trip, Beijing industry meeting); -- Improving Business awareness by co-sponsoring relevant association’s annual meeting and training in 2005 and 2006;

5. Next step --- Assisting SFA in conducting an “International Symposium on Illegal Logging Trade Solutions” in 2007 in Beijing; --- Organizing a delegation consist of officials from SFA/MOC/ RILO-AP to the US to discussion about sustainable forest products trade in Progress works laid out in the MOU between China and Indonesia, while also assisting SFA to conduct a feasibility analysis on establishing an intra- governmental mutual recognition mechanism for accrediting legally sourced timber products in Assisting SFA in developing national guidelines on regulating Chinese forestry business's harvest, a/reforestation, wood purchase behaviors oversea ; --- Catalyzing green wood procurement policy be adopted in private and public sectors ; --- supporting Chinese national forest certification scheme pilots implementation

6.1 opportunities Outside: -- Increased stakeholders awareness; -- Improved attitudes of governmental agencies; -- More domestic environmental oriented policies: increasing 5% consume tax to wood flooring board; -- Premier Wen Jiabao’s Promise in 8th EU-China Summit in Beijing on 5 September Inside: -- illegal logging & trade was identified as one of important threats for TNC conservation objectives -- TNC China is one of core cooperation partners of SFA on illegal logging and trade issue ; -- Network based on TNC country programs (Indonesia, China, PNG……) and AP-regional forest program and Forest Trade and Policy Program of TNC Global Forest Partnership (GFP);

6.2 Challenges -- Multi- recognized definition -- Suitable technical tools (Wood tracking, GIS, etc.) in terms of cost and benefits -- Lack of motivation and priority ; -- Political risk; -- Complexity - Cross-sector nationally, Bilateral and multilateral For more information please contact: Ms. Chen Xiaoqian The Nature Conservancy China Program Beijing office Dong Xiao Lou, Zhong Shan Park Beijing , China Tel: ext 122 Fax: