中國國務院公佈減少森林採伐計劃

China will reduce logging on planted forests and eventually end logging on natural forests, under a plan published this week by the State Council, China’s cabinet.

中國的內閣機構國務院在本週公佈了一項計劃，將減少人工林的採伐量，並最終停止天然林採伐。

Under the guidelines, China will reduce commercial harvesting of planted forests by 20 percent and eliminate logging on state-owned natural forests by 2020.

根據該指導意見，中國將在2020年前將人工林的商業性採伐減少20%，停止國有天然林場的採伐。

Amid the many environmental concerns facing China, the country’s forest cover has seen notable progress over the past several decades. China began aggressive efforts to expand its depleted forests in the 1980s, and that campaign took on a new intensity after 1998, when flooding of the Yangtze River was attributed to rampant logging. As a result “more of the country is forested than at any time since the early Qing” dynasty, the University of Washington scholars Alicia S.T. Robbins and Stevan Harrell wrote last year. The Qing dynasty spanned from 1644 to 1911.

中國面臨很多環境問題，該國的森林覆蓋面積在過去幾十年中有了顯著增加。中國在20世紀80年代開始大力擴種砍伐殆盡的森林，而這一行動的力度1998年以後愈發增強，因爲當時長江洪水氾濫被歸因於猖獗的採伐行爲。華盛頓大學(University of Washington)學者艾麗西亞·S·T·羅賓斯(Alicia S.T. Robbins)和斯特萬·哈勒爾(Stevan Harrell)在去年寫道，結果“中國的森林覆蓋面積達到了清朝初期以來的最高水平”。清朝的起止時間爲1644至1911年。

But experts say that such reforestation efforts also have many weaknesses. Large numbers of trees of a single species are often planted together, leaving them vulnerable to disease and vast die-offs. Sometimes the trees are not appropriate for the arid climates where they are planted, increasing the strain on limited water resources. An effort to expand forest cover across north China to slow desertification, known colloquially as the Green Great Wall, has suffered from a poor survival rate of the trees planted.

但專家表示，這種重新造林的舉措也存在很多問題。大量同一品種的樹木通常會被種在一起，導致它們容易患病，出現樹木大批死亡的情況。有時，樹木會被種在並不適合的乾旱氣候之中，從而增加了有限的水資源所面臨的壓力。爲了延緩荒漠化進程，中國北部採取了擴大森林覆蓋面的措施，即人們所謂的“綠色長城”，但是種在那裏的樹木成活率很低。

Efforts to curb logging have also had unintended consequences. Following the 1998 flooding, a logging ban was enacted in 13 provinces to better protect the Yangtze and Yellow rivers. But that drove up imports, triggering fears of damage to vulnerable forests in Southeast Asia. Subsequent agreements between China and timber-exporting nations in Southeast Asia have helped alleviate some of those concerns.

遏制伐木的工作也會帶來一些意想不到的後果。1998年的洪水之後，爲了更好地保護長江與黃河，中國在13個省頒佈了禁伐令。但是，木材進口由此增加，引發了人們對東南亞脆弱的森林會受到損害的擔憂。中國和東南亞的木材出口國隨後簽訂的一系列協議，在減輕這些擔憂方面發揮了作用。

The plan to restrict logging in natural forests will largely be felt in northeast China. Last year China banned commercial logging in natural forests in Heilongjiang Province, the state news agency Xinhua reported. The government has budgeted 2.35 billion renminbi a year, about $380 million, to help cover the living costs of laid-off forestry workers and to promote other forest-related industries, according to chinadialogue, an independent website that reports on environmental issues.

很大程度上，限制採伐天然林的計劃將在中國東北實施。據中國官方通訊社新華社報道，去年，中國已禁止對黑龍江省的天然林進行商業性採伐。報道環境議題的獨立網站“中外對話”表示，政府每年將安排23.5億元人民幣的財政預算，用於保障失業林業工作者的生活開支，並促進其他森林相關的行業的發展。