National ecological security requires the Ministry of Forestry

National ecological security requires the Ministry of Forestry

Author: Liu Shenyuan, Qi Lian, Jia Daming

Source: China Green Times, March 7, 2007

1998 was a watershed year for forestry. In the summer of this year, the Yangtze River and the Nenjiang River roared angrily, and the extremely heavy flood hit the north and south; in the midst of the unprecedented ecological disaster, a new historic leap took place in the understanding of forestry by the whole party and the people of the whole country, and the call of the whole society to strengthen forestry construction and improve the ecological environment was raised; the party Central Committee and the State Council made a series of major arrangements for forestry ecological construction, and invested hundreds of billions of yuan with unprecedented courage and intensity to launch six major forestry projects, including the protection of natural forests, the return of farmland to forests, and the control of sand sources in Beijing and Tianjin. The CPC Central Committee and the State Council have since issued the "Decision on Accelerating the Development of Forestry," which has given a new and comprehensive scientific orientation to forestry: "In implementing the strategy of sustainable development, it is necessary to give forestry an important position; in ecological construction, it is necessary to give forestry a primary position; and in the large-scale development of the western region, it is necessary to give forestry a basic position." ”

Someone once joked: What would have happened if the devastating flood of 1998 had arrived a few months earlier?

Because, on March 10, 1998, the first session of the Ninth National People's Congress passed the institutional reform plan of the State Council, and the Ministry of Forestry was downgraded to the State Forestry Administration.

After the reorganization of the Ministry of Forestry into the State Forestry Administration, forestry departments at all levels have overcome difficulties, moved forward with heavy burdens, united as one, and worked hard to create a new situation in forestry in accordance with the arrangements of the central authorities.

However, the severe situation of the extreme fragility of the mainland ecology and the overall deterioration trend has not been effectively curbed, and the effect of the weakening of forestry administrative institutions has affected many problems.

Since 2001, at the two sessions, there have been calls from deputies and committee members to reinstate the Ministry of Forestry or the State Forestry Administration to be upgraded to the State Forestry Administration.

One thing to do every year

Wang Zhibao, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said: I have thought of several proposals for this year, among which the issue of upgrading the State Forestry Administration to a higher level must be raised. This is something I do every year, and I have submitted such proposals for seven consecutive years since the Ministry of Forestry was downgraded to the State Forestry Administration.

Member Wang Zhibao said: Why do you keep putting forward this motion? Because the task of ecological construction in China is so arduous, it is by no means like the forestry that the general people in society understand is to dig pits and plant trees for afforestation, and China's forestry departments have a very wide scope of management, involving afforestation and greening, protection and management of forest resources, protection and management of wild animals and plants, management of nature reserves, control of desertification, protection and management of wetlands, and many other fields, and undertake the important mission of safeguarding the country's ecological security and promoting the coordinated development of the economy and ecology. As Vice Premier Hui Liangyu recently pointed out, forestry as an important part of agriculture, as an important public welfare undertaking and basic industry, forestry is constantly expanding its functions, its utility is constantly extending, and its connotation is constantly enriched, and its position in the overall economic and social development is becoming more and more important, its role is becoming more and more prominent, and its tasks are becoming more and more arduous.

Wang Ping, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and former chairman of the China Agriculture, Forestry and Water Conservancy Trade Union, said: For six consecutive years, we have proposed that the Ministry of Forestry be restored or that the State Forestry Administration be upgraded to the State Forestry Administration. Ecological construction is not a matter for one department, but a matter for the whole society to benefit. As far as China's ecosystem is concerned, whether it is to effectively protect and develop forest resources, cope with global warming, prevent the invasion of alien pests, protect biodiversity, or meet people's growing demand for ecological products, from the strategic perspective of ensuring the ecological security of the mainland and implementing the scientific concept of development, there is an urgent need to restore the Ministry of Forestry, or upgrade the State Forestry Administration to the State Forestry Administration. Because the State Forestry Administration is limited by specifications, the ability to organize and appeal is not suitable for the tasks it undertakes, and the small horses and carts are small, which makes it difficult for the central government to implement the deployment of forestry work in a timely manner and effectively implement it.

Lessons can be learned at home and abroad

With regard to the argument that some developed countries such as Europe and the United States have not set up separate forestry ministries, Wang Zhibao said: At present, many developing countries blindly follow the example of developed countries and unrealistically integrate with developed countries when setting up institutions, and many very serious problems have arisen. After a long period of development, developed countries such as the United States, the European Union, and Japan have reached a very high level of economy, and their forest restoration, protection, and forestry development have completed their historical tasks. However, in developing countries like China, the economy continues to grow rapidly, the demand for timber is increasing year by year, the forest resources are seriously insufficient, the natural ecology is extremely fragile, and it is still suffering serious damage, which is also an important reason for the overall decline of the world's forestry industry and the deterioration of the global ecological environment. More than 10 million hectares of forest are lost each year in the world, as a result of developing countries following the example of developed countries in weakening forestry management. This is a painful lesson. Today, when the scientific concept of development is fully implemented, the harmony between man and nature is promoted, and the socialist harmonious society is built, the status of forestry on the mainland is becoming more and more important, and the task undertaken by forestry is heavier than that of any country. However, the mainland's current forestry institutions are of low standard and can no longer undertake the major tasks entrusted by the state to forestry institutions.

Ni Haomei, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), vice chairman of the Motions Work Committee of the CPPCC National Committee, and former vice chairman of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, said that the mainland's historical experience has also fully proved that the development of forestry must be guaranteed by a strong government organization. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Ministry of Forestry has been set up for most of the time, and the organization has been relatively stable, and the forestry industry has also developed steadily. From 1970 to 1978, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry was merged and reorganized into the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, and local forestry agencies were also merged into the Agriculture and Forestry Bureau. In less than 10 years, the forest coverage rate has dropped from 12.7 percent to 12 percent, which is equivalent to a reduction of nearly 70,000 square kilometers of forest area. After the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Ministry of Forestry was restored, and the forestry institutions were strengthened from top to bottom, and the forestry industry began to pick up. This fact fully shows that a stable and authoritative forestry organization plays a decisive role in the development of forestry to a certain extent. It is from this perspective that I have been proposing for the restoration of the Forestry Department for many years.

The forestry work system should be strengthened

In 2000, Ni Haomei, a member of the CPPCC National Committee, conducted a survey in six provinces and autonomous regions, including Qinghai, Xinjiang, Gansu, Guangdong, Jiangsu, and Hainan, and deeply felt that the readjustment of the forestry administrative organs was very incompatible with the tasks and difficulties undertaken by the forestry departments, and that this had brought about a considerable negative impact on the forestry industry: First, the difficulty of forestry work has increased, and the authority of the work has declined. When some local governments encounter overlapping work or conflicting work arrangements when implementing the documents of the higher departments, they believe that the documents of the ministries and commissions are more effective than the documents of the directly subordinate agencies, and the forestry work is pushed back, and it is even difficult for the forestry departments in some places to convene inter-departmental coordination meetings for forest protection and fire prevention. Second, the social status of forestry has declined, and the leadership has weakened. In some localities, the ministry and commission system has been given priority consideration to the allocation of cadres and work arrangements, and the weakened departments such as the forestry departments have been put to the back burner; some cadres and workers in the forestry system also believe that forestry is a department that has been withdrawn and merged, and many cadres and workers are emotionally unstable and their minds are moving. Third, the local forestry work system has been greatly weakened. In the reform of municipal and county government agencies, because the Ministry of Forestry has become the State Forestry Administration and is restricted by the establishment of departmental institutions, most cities and counties can often only set up forestry institutions in accordance with the principle of matching the upper and lower levels, and the entire forestry work system has been greatly weakened.

Zhang Jiao, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and secretary general of the Central Committee of the China National Democratic Construction Association, said that speeding up the reform of state-owned forest areas involves all departments and aspects of all sectors of society, and the relations between China and China are complicated. The State Forestry Administration, as a vice-ministerial-level unit, appears to be weak and has many difficulties in coordinating and commanding. After the Ministry of Forestry was downgraded to the State Forestry Administration, the social status and work functions of forestry were greatly weakened, which was insufficient to complete a large amount of social work undertaken by the state-owned forest areas, leaving many immeasurable hidden dangers for the further development and reform of the state-owned forest areas. In order to strengthen the coordination and command of forestry work, speed up the pace of reform in state-owned forest areas, and carry out various tasks in a steady and orderly manner, it is very necessary to restore the State Forestry Administration to the Ministry of Forestry or upgrade it to the State Forestry Administration as soon as possible.

Forestry needs to go beyond the norm

Cai Shuming, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and vice chairman of the Hubei Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said that because forestry construction is a social undertaking for hundreds of millions of people, the situation is complicated, and the responsibility is heavy, and the state attaches unprecedented importance to forestry ecological construction, it is necessary to have a strong forestry administrative organ to organize and mobilize and adopt unconventional methods to seek the great development of forestry. To this end, it is recommended to strengthen the forestry administrative institutions, restore the Ministry of Forestry as soon as possible or upgrade the State Forestry Administration to the State Forestry Administration, and establish forestry departments in each province accordingly.

Shen Guofang, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, pointed out at the Fourth Session of the Ninth National People's Congress that the forestry sector is the main department for carrying out ecological and environmental construction. Because the forestry department undertakes a heavy task and involves a wide range of areas, it is very important to strengthen the position of the forestry department in charge of strengthening the position of the forestry department because it has to deal with the grassroots and thousands of households, and also to guide the development of the forestry industry. Therefore, for several years in a row, we have proposed to restore the structure of the Ministry of Forestry or upgrade the State Forestry Administration to the State Forestry Administration, which will be of great benefit to the ecological construction of the whole country in the future.

At the 2001 National People's Congress and the National People's Congress (NPC) and the National People's Congress (NPC) Committee, Ni Haomei proposed that the State Forestry Administration be restored to the Ministry of Forestry as a constituent department of the State Council, so that it could play a more effective role. She said that the dominant position of ecological environment construction determines that forestry construction has a distinct public welfare character, and the public welfare nature of forestry determines that forestry cannot be regulated by the market and pulled by interests, but must be organized and promoted by government agencies with a high degree of authority. The task of managing and protecting forest resources is becoming more and more heavy, and it is much more difficult to prevent and crack down on illegal and criminal acts such as indiscriminate deforestation, indiscriminate hunting of wild animals, and indiscriminate occupation of forest land in accordance with the law, which determines that the forestry administrative organs need to be strengthened urgently. From the perspective of the composition of the national economy, forestry is still an important basic industry, but today's forestry is far from being a simple basic industry, not only a component of large agriculture, but has developed into the main body of ecological environment construction, and is an irreplaceable main body, and must rely on the strong support and management of the government in order to develop healthily.