Legislative history and comparative study of the Forest Law
Wen Liu Min1
[Summary].The forest law is the most basic and important economic law to ensure the development of forestry in China. Through the method of comparative analysis and background analysis, this paper reviewed, summarized and evaluated the previous forest laws in China. Broadly speaking: the Forest Protection Regulations of 1963 are centred on deforestation;The Forest Law of 1984 is centered on afforestation and greening;The Forest Law of 1998 is centred on conservation and restoration;Planning and tenure are central to the Forest Law of 2020. In general, the formulation and revision of the Forest Law conforms to the general trend of national economic and social development, and is in line with the development direction of forestry from logging to afforestation, to ecological protection and comprehensive management.
[Keywords].Forest Law ;Deforestation;Afforestation and greening;Protection Repair;Planning;Ownership.
1. 1963 Forest Protection Regulations: Focusing on forest harvesting
In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, economic and social development went through two stages: the new democratic revolution and the socialist transformation. During this period, a large amount of raw materials are needed for production and construction, and the demand for wood is particularly urgent when the industrial system is not yet developed and the substitutes are not sufficient. In September 1949, the First Plenary Session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference formulated a common program with the nature of a provisional constitution, of which Article 34 "On Agriculture, Forestry, Fishery and Animal Husbandry" pointed out: protect forests and develop forestry in a planned way. In 1950, the Ministry of Forestry and Reclamation convened the first national forestry business conference in Beijing, and determined that the principles and tasks of forestry work were: universal forest protection, key afforestation, rational felling and rational utilization. It was also decided to prepare for the development of the Daxing'an Mountains forest area. In the same year, the People's Government Council issued the "Instructions on National Forestry Work", which once again emphasized the above-mentioned forestry work guidelines and tasks, and made provisions on the establishment of national forestry institutions. In the "1951 Decision on Agricultural and Forestry Production," it was pointed out that different localities should set different requirements. In mountainous areas, it is necessary to establish the viewpoint of long-term construction of "eating mountains and raising mountains", protect and cultivate mountain forests, build ravines, build terraces, and carry out sideline production, so that the impoverished mountainous areas can gradually become rich.
Forest Protection Regulations [1] is China's first forest regulation after the founding of the People's Republic of China, which was adopted by the 131st plenary session of the People's Republic of China and promulgated and implemented on May 27, 1963. The Forest Protection Regulations are a forest regulation that focuses on logging, and the legislative purpose is to protect forests, prevent fires, indiscriminate logging, and control pests and diseases, so as to promote forestry production;Emphasis was placed on the establishment of corresponding forest protection organizations at different levels, in different regions and according to different situationsLogging is strictly controlled, and different harvesting rules have been formulated for state-owned forests, forests owned by collective units, and forests in nature reserves. It is forbidden to deforestation and land reclamation, and to implement regular closure of mountains suitable for forests, wasteland, sand wasteland, remnant forest remnants and newly planted young forests. Without approval, it is not allowed to enter the collective forest area to purchase timber, bamboo, firewood, charcoal, etc.;It is proposed to strictly prevent forest fires and strictly control forest diseases and pests;Rules for rewards and punishments have been established.
The basic chapters of the Regulations on the Protection of Forests do not include content related to afforestation and forest management, and the forest management part is mainly based on logging. In addition, in terms of forest property rights, the main thing is to determine the subject of property rights, clarify the ownership and management rights, and restrict the right to dispose (harvesting), but there is no mention of the right to income.
2. 1979 Forest Law of the People's Republic of China (Trial): It points out the important functions of forests
In the mid-to-late 60s of the 20th century, China's economic development was seriously affected by "** and once stagnated. In the countryside, the people's commune became one of the "three red flags". The main feature of the People's Commune is "one big and two public". At the beginning of reform and opening up, all kinds of waste were waiting to be rebuilt. The vitality of China's economic development has been mobilized to the greatest extent. In 1977, the 11th National Congress of the Communist Party of China was held. The congress declared that "the end of the country has come to an end, and reaffirmed the need to build our country into a modern socialist power in the 20 th century." In 1978, 18 peasant households in Xiaogang Village, Fengyang County, Anhui Province spontaneously organized themselves to discuss the matter of dividing the fields and doing them alone. On January 1, 1982, the Communist Party of China approved and forwarded the "Minutes of the National Rural Work Conference" (that is, Zhongfa (1982) No. 1 Document), which pointed out that all kinds of production responsibility systems, including the production of production to households and the contracting of all production responsibilities to households, should not be moved as long as the masses do not demand changes. The distribution of production to households is based on public ownership of land and is an integral part of the socialist agricultural economy.
The Forest Law of the People's Republic of China 1979 (Trial)" [2] is the first forest law of the People's Republic of China to be implemented on a trial basis, and it is also one of the several laws and regulations formulated earlier after the reform and opening up, and was adopted in principle by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (February 23, 1979) at the sixth meeting of the Standing Committee of the Fifth National People's Congress. The Forest Law of the People's Republic of China (for Trial Implementation) is a groundbreaking law and a transitional law, the first article of which points out the important functions of forests and puts forward the legislative purpose: forests are important resources of the country, which can provide timber and various forest products to meet the needs of national economic construction and people's livesIt can regulate the climate, conserve water sources, maintain water and soil, prevent wind and fix sand, and ensure the development of agriculture and animal husbandryIt can prevent and control air pollution, protect and beautify the environment, and enhance people's physical and mental health. In order to speed up afforestation, strengthen forest protection and management, and rationally develop and utilize forest resources, a forest law is formulated.
3. 1984 Forest Law of the People's Republic of China: Focusing on afforestation and greening
In the early 80s of the 20 th century, China's economic development made steady progress while continuing to implement the principles of adjustment, reform, rectification, and improvement. In the rural areas, in 1983, on the basis of four consecutive years of increase in agricultural production, a bumper harvest was achieved, and agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, sideline fisheries, and fishery industries developed in an all-round way. Since then, the rural land contract responsibility system has been rolled out in an all-round way throughout the country, and forestry, as a part of large-scale agriculture, has also been reformed and explored in many places. It is mainly through the reform of the property rights system to stimulate endogenous motivation and fundamentally reverse the previous unsustainable forestry development situation of "cutting down more and less".
On July 4, 1984, at the sixth meeting of the Standing Committee of the Sixth National People's Congress, Yang Zhong, Minister of Forestry, made an explanation 4 on the "Forest Law of the People's Republic of China (Revised Draft)"4, mentioning that from the implementation of the "Forest Law (Trial)" for more than five years, there are some imperfect and inaccurate problems. There are two main aspects: first, the Forest Law (Trial) is not strong enough to control forest consumption and reverse excessive logging;The provisions on punishment are too principled and general, and it is difficult to implement them in practice. Second, because the "Forest Law (Trial)" has not attracted the attention of some localities, resulting in the phenomenon of indiscriminate deforestation in many places, so it has not been stopped. Especially since the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee, the Party and the state have issued many important policy documents on forestry, which need to be incorporated into the Forest Law.
The Forest Law of the People's Republic of China5 was adopted at the Seventh Session of the Standing Committee of the Sixth National People's Congress on September 20, 1984 and came into force on January 1, 1985. General Provisions: The purpose of the legislation is to protect, cultivate and rationally utilize forest resources, speed up the greening of the land, give play to the role of forests in water storage and soil conservation, climate regulation, environmental improvement and provision of forest products, and meet the needs of socialist construction and people's livesIt is clear that forest resources belong to the whole people, except for collective ownership by law, and the legitimate rights and interests of owners and users of forests, woods and forest lands are protected by law and shall not be infringed upon by any unit or individual;Forests are divided into five categories: shelter forests, timber forests, economic forests, charcoal forests, and special-purpose forestsIt is proposed that forestry construction should be based on forest management, universal forest protection, vigorous afforestation, combination of harvesting and breeding, and sustainable utilizationIt is emphasized that the state shall implement quota felling of forests, encourage afforestation, close mountains for afforestation, and expand the area of forest coverageAnnounced the levy of silvicultural fees and the establishment of a silvicultural ** system6;Forest management: propose long-term forestry planning and forest management plans;Forest protection: prohibition of deforestation, designation of nature reserves7;Afforestation: Propose to formulate afforestation plans, put forward afforestation tasks by sub-subjects, clarify the benefits of forest rights, and propose contracted afforestation for the first timeForest harvesting: determine the principles of felling, and clarify the harvesting requirements by forest speciesLegal liability: The classification is more comprehensive, and specific provisions are made on illegal logging, indiscriminate logging, over-harvesting, forgery or resale of forest felling permits, various deforestation behaviors, and failure to complete reforestation tasks after felling.
The 1984 Forest Law of the People's Republic of China is a law centered on afforestation and greening.
4. 1998 Forest Law of the People's Republic of China: Focusing on protection and restoration
From the mid-to-late 80s to the late 90s of the 20th century, China's economic development began to accelerate and gradually moved towards marketization, diversification and internationalization under the encouragement of major reforms such as the rural land contract responsibility system and fiscal decentralization. During this period, after several fluctuations and the rectification of governance in 1989-1991, macroeconomic operations soon regained their strong vitality, and by 1998, the basic structure of the socialist market economy had taken shape.
From the early 80s of the 20th century, with the development of forestry "three determinations", under the guidance of the unstable property rights and the idea of quick success, there has been a phenomenon of indiscriminate deforestation in some places, which the state has issued a number of documents to stop it, including: in 1987, the Communist Party of China **, on strengthening the management of forest resources in the southern collective forest area and resolutely stopping the indiscriminate deforestation instructions, in 1989, the General Office of the first office "on the current situation of indiscriminate deforestation", in 1992, the Ministry of Forestry approved the " Report on the current situation of indiscriminate logging, indiscriminate hunting and comprehensive management measures, in 1993, the Ministry of Forestry issued the "Emergency Notice on Resolutely Stopping Indiscriminate Logging, Indiscriminate Hunting and Strengthening Forest Land Management".
On April 29, 1998, the second meeting of the Standing Committee of the Ninth National People's Congress adopted the "Decision on Amending the Forest Law of the People's Republic of China", which was the first revision of the "Forest Law", which came into force on July 1, 1998. 1998 "Forest Law of the People's Republic of China" 8, General Provisions: The purpose of legislation is to protect, cultivate and rationally utilize forest resources, accelerate land greening, give play to the role of forest water storage and soil conservation, climate regulation, environmental improvement and provision of forest products, and meet the needs of socialist construction and people's lives;Forest operation and management: levy and occupy forest land in accordance with the law and pay forest vegetation restoration fees;Forest protection: play the role of forest public security and armed forest police9;Afforestation: The original main body of afforestation has been changed from being owned by the whole people to being owned by the state10;Forest harvesting: prohibit or restrict the export of precious trees, their products and derivatives;Legal liability: In addition to the more detailed provisions, the subject content and subject matter are more, the staff of the forestry department engaged in the protection of forest resources and forestry supervision and management and the relevant staff of other state organs abuse their powers, derelict their duties, and twist the law for personal gain, constituting a crime.
The 1998 Forest Law of the People's Republic of China is a regulation formulated around the center of forest protection and restoration, which not only attaches more importance to the protection and restoration of forests in concept, but also proposes to establish new regulations such as compensation for forest ecological benefits, strengthening the protection of wild animals and plants and international management, and strict forest land management. Subsequently, the State Forestry Administration promulgated the "Interpretation of the Forest Law of the People's Republic of China", and Wang Zhibao, director of the State Forestry Administration, pointed out in the preface [3]: The formulation of this forest law is to meet the needs of protecting the ecological environment and the socialist market economy system, and is a powerful law to effectively protect, cultivate and rationally utilize forest resources, encourage and mobilize the whole society to afforestation and forestry, and accelerate the development of forestry. The formulation of this forest law highlights the main role of forestry in the construction of ecological environment.
5. 2009 Forest Law of the People's Republic of China: amended from forest land expropriation to expropriation and requisition
From the late 90s of the 20th century to the early 21st century, China's economic development began to change from focusing on growth to focusing on structure, fairness and sustainability, and entered the stage of building a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way. In the rural areas, it is mainly through promoting the reform of taxes and fees and the reform of the forest tenure system, implementing policies that benefit the people, promoting peasant employment, and increasing peasant incomes.
From 1998 to 2009, the environment for forestry development has undergone great changes, forestry development has received more attention, and substantial progress has been made in forestry reform. On June 26, 2003, the Communist Party of China issued the "Decision on Accelerating the Development of Forestry", pointing out that China's forestry is in an important period of change and transition, and is experiencing a historic transformation from timber production to ecological construction", emphasizing that "in the implementation of the sustainable development strategy, forestry should be given an important position;In ecological construction, forestry should be given a primary position;In the large-scale development of the western region, forestry should be given a basic position. On June 8, 2008, the Communist Party of China issued the "Opinions on Comprehensively Promoting the Reform of the Collective Forest Tenure System", proposing to use about five years to basically complete the reform of the collective forest tenure system with clear property rights and contracting to households, and implement the collective forest land family contract management system;On June 22-23, 2009, the ** Forestry Work Conference was held in Beijing, which clarified the "four statuses" and "four missions" of forestry, and affirmed the circulation of forest land use rights and forest ownership11.
On August 27, 2009, the 10th Session of the Standing Committee of the 11th National People's Congress adopted the Decision on Amending Certain Laws, deciding as follows: 1. Amend the provisions of some laws that obviously do not meet the requirements of the socialist market economy and social development. 2. Amendments to the provisions on "expropriation" in some laws and legal interpretations. Among them, (1) the following laws and legal interpretations in the "expropriation" is amended to "expropriation, requisition", including Article 18 of the Forest Law of the People's Republic of China. This is the second revision of the Forest Law, the 2009 Forest Law of the People's Republic of China (Revised Edition), which consists of seven chapters and 49 articles, but on the basis of the previous decision, individual words have been adjusted according to the above decision.
6. 2020 Forest Law of the People's Republic of China: Focusing on planning and clarifying tenure
Since 2010, China's economic and social development has accelerated, industrialization, informatization, urbanization, and agricultural modernization have developed simultaneously, and the market has been working at the same time, and the theory of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the market system have taken shape. The basic position of the market in allocating resources has been more solid, the market environment has been continuously improved, the country's macroeconomic regulation and control capabilities have been continuously improved, and the governance system and governance capacity have been modernized. The economy continues to maintain a high growth rate, information and technology development has become the driving force, and the "five-in-one" is advancing in a coordinated manner12. Ecological civilization has been raised to a new height, the construction of national parks has begun, the protection of important ecosystems and the restoration of major projects have been strengthened, and the active response to climate change has received unprecedented attentionSupply-side structural reform has begun to exert force, the rural revitalization strategy has been mentioned in an important position, and high-quality development has become the medium and long-term goal of China's economic development.
In rural areas, we should continue to deepen the reform of land property rights and promote agricultural modernization. On January 2, 2014, the Communist Party of China issued the "Several Opinions on Comprehensively Deepening Rural Reform and Accelerating Agricultural Modernization". On November 6 of the same year, the General Office of the Communist Party of China issued the "Opinions on Guiding the Orderly Flow of Rural Land Management Rights and the Development of Moderately Large-scale Agricultural Operations". On October 22, 2016, the General Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) issued the Opinions on Improving the Measures for the Separation of Rural Land Ownership, Contracting Rights, and Management Rights. On December 26 of the same year, the Communist Party of China issued the "Opinions on Steadily Promoting the Reform of the Rural Collective Property Rights System".
Background of the introduction of the Forest Law in 2020: First, the need to consolidate the achievements of reform. It is necessary to pass legislation to determine the results of the reform of the collective forest tenure system in the form of law, so that the rights and interests of forest tenure can be protectedThe second is the need for the transformation of forestry development mode. Ecological civilization, green development, and the construction of a beautiful China have been mentioned at the national level, and the relevant systems must be adjusted. For example, the protection system of forest land, the management system of forest felling, the ecological protection system, and the forestry subsidy system should be adjusted in accordance with the direction of ecological protection.13The third is the need for sustainable development of forestry and forestry modernization. It is necessary to pass legislation to strengthen forest protection and restoration, guard forest red lines, maintain forest ecological security, adhere to the harmonious coexistence of man and nature, promote forestry transformation and sustainable development, and promote forestry modernization.
The 2020 Forest Law14 was voted and adopted at the 15th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress on December 28, 2019. 2020 "Forest Law", General Provisions: Legislative purpose: In order to practice the concept that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets, protect, cultivate and rationally utilize forest resources, accelerate land greening, ensure forest ecological security, build ecological civilization, and realize the harmonious coexistence of man and nature;Follow the principles: ecological priority, protection priority, conservation integration, sustainable development;Responsibility assessment: establish a target responsibility system and an assessment and evaluation system;Classified management and forest multi-function: classified management of commercial forest ecological forest, highlighting the leading function and giving full play to multiple functions;Ecological benefit compensation: Establish a compensation system for forest ecological benefits;Arbor Day: Rising from decision to law;Forest tenure: a separate chapter, and the form of property rights is becoming more and more perfect. Stipulation: The right to use state-owned forest land and forests and trees on forest land may be transferred, leased, or made capital contributions upon approvalDevelopment plan: Separate chapter and hierarchical implementation. Stipulation: The protection of forest resources and forestry development shall be incorporated into the national economic and social development plan;Forest Protection: New additions. It is pointed out that the state should strengthen the protection of forest resources, and give full play to the functions of forests such as water storage and soil conservation, climate regulation, environmental improvement, biodiversity maintenance and forest productsAfforestation and greening: more diverse forms and more specific guidance. Promote the construction of forest cities and promote rural revitalization;Operation and management: classified operation and management, integrating the elements of the times. Divide public welfare forests and commercial forests, implement strict protection of public welfare forests, and encourage the development of commercial forestsSupervision and inspection: a separate chapter clarifying regulatory responsibilities15. Legal liability: Adapt to new changes and make the regulations more specific.
The 2020 Forest Law is characterized by planning and clarifying tenure as the center, and in terms of structure: three chapters on forest tenure, development planning, and supervision and inspection have been added, and forest harvesting is no longer a separate chapter (forest harvesting is diluted in form), forest protection organizations are placed in the chapter on forest protection, and professional terms are defined in the supplementary provisionsAnd some new formulations have been added. For example, social forestry (the state encourages citizens to participate in afforestation and greening through afforestation, tending and management, pledging and adoption), creating mixed forests (people at all levels should organize afforestation and greening, should be scientifically planned, adapted to local conditions, optimize the structure of forest species and tree species, encourage the use of native tree species and improved forest species, create mixed forests, and improve the quality of afforestation and greening), returning farmland to forest, ecological restoration, mortgages, forest insurance, forest certification, etc. are all mentioned for the first time. (The author's affiliation is the Development Research Center of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration).
Photo by Fei Xiang Chen Hongbiao.
Notes: 1 [*Project] The National Forestry and Grassland Administration's 14th Five-Year Plan for Forestry and Grassland Indicators and Statistical Evaluation Implementation Plan Project "Research on the Value Realization Mechanism of Ecological Products" (No. 2021-06).
About author】Min Liu is a researcher at the Economic Development Research Center of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, with research interests in forestry economic theory and policy.
2 For the sake of comparison, the main content of the Forest Law and previous revisions in the future will only highlight the changes and highlights.
3 Compared with the Forest Law of the People's Republic of China (Trial) and the subsequent Forest Law of the People's Republic of China in 1984, the content has not changed much, and we will discuss it in depth in the next part.
4 on the "People's Republic of China Forest Law (Revised Draft)" explanation, 5 the People's Republic of China Forest Law (1984), 6 "1979 Forest Law (Trial)" stipulates: the establishment of a silvicultural system, from the sale price of timber, bamboo and forest products to levy a certain amount of silvicultural fees, for land regeneration can also be used to create new forests, in order to cope with the characteristics of the long forestry production cycle, to make up for the loss of forest resources caused by long-term overlogging in history.
7. The 1979 Forest Law (Trial) stipulates that it is strictly forbidden to deforestation and deforestation for sideline businessIn areas where precious and rare animals and plants grow and breed, nature reserves are demarcated, institutions are established, protection and management are strengthened, and scientific research is carried out.
8 Forest Law of the People's Republic of China (Revised in 1998),9 The Forest Law of the People's Republic of China (Trial) of 1979 stipulates that the revolutionary committees of provinces and autonomous regions shall, according to actual needs, set up public security bureaus and police stations in key forest areas, and equip them with forest police, so as to strengthen public security and protect forests.
10 The 1984 Forest Law of the People's Republic of China stipulates that barren mountains and wastelands suitable for forests shall be organized by the competent forestry authorities and other competent departments for afforestationBarren mountains and wastelands suitable for forests owned by the whole people and collectively owned by the whole people may be contracted for afforestation by collectives or individuals. The forests planted by units owned by the whole people shall be operated by the construction units and the forest income shall be disposed of in accordance with the provisions of the State.
11 In his speech, Premier Wen Jiabao clearly pointed out that forestry plays an important role in implementing the strategy of sustainable development, has a primary position in ecological construction, has a basic position in the large-scale development of the western region, and has a special position in dealing with climate change.
Vice Premier Hui Liangyu pointed out in his speech: At present, China is in a critical period of continuing to build a well-off society in an all-round way and accelerating socialist modernization, and the construction of ecological civilization has become a strategic task of China's modernization, and forestry work shoulders a more important historical mission. First, to achieve scientific development, we must take the development of forestry as a major measure. Second, to build an ecological civilization, we must take the development of forestry as the primary task. Third, to deal with climate change, the development of forestry must be taken as a strategic choice. Fourth, to solve the "three rural" problems, we must take the development of forestry as an important way (four major missions). The convening of the forestry work conference in the name of the first is the first time since the founding of the People's Republic of China and the first time in the history of our party.
Jia Zhibang, director of the State Forestry Administration, pointed out that this reform is a major change in deepening the rural management system, and it has given new connotations to the rural reform over the past 30 years. **The document clearly stipulates that the contracted management right of forest land can be leased, mortgaged, transferred, and can be invested in shares or even operated in the name of cooperation, which affirms that it has circulation. After the management right of the forest land is contracted, the ownership of the forest trees on the forest land is also in place at the same time, and the number of trees on the forest land is billions of square meters, which is directly supplemented, and if it is realized, it is money, so it is an asset.
12 The overall layout of the "five-in-one" includes five aspects: economic, political, cultural, social and ecological civilization construction.
13 Liu Zhenwei: Four laws are included in the current five-year legislative plan
14 Forest Law of the People's Republic of China,15 The Forest Law of the People's Republic of China (Trial) of 1979 stipulates that the national procuratorial organs shall appoint one to three forestry inspectors in the forestry departments of forest districts and counties, the state-owned forestry bureaus and key state-owned forest farms, who are responsible for supervising the implementation of the national forestry policy and decrees. The scope of duties of forestry inspectors shall be uniformly prescribed by the State Procuratorate.
Green China" A (first half of the month) January 2023 issue.
*: Green China.