China's Forests Are Recovering At The Cost Of Other Countries: Study

Ever since Beijing enforced a forest conservation program in 1998, scientists analyzed the country's forests with satellite images, to check where and how much tree cover had changed. In the last decade, about 1.6 percent of China's territory seemed to have improved.

Even though about 0.38 of the forests remained under threat, the improvement has been heartening.

"Before there was widespread deforestation," said Andrés Viñ, first author of the study. "Now that has stopped and there is a net gain in forest cover."

"It is encouraging that China's forests have been recovering in the midst of its daunting environmental challenges," added Jianguo Liu, co-author of the study.

The Chinese forests, a great natural resource, are an important link with biodiversity and a buffer against erosion, as well as a great carbon sink. Most of the carbon dioxide levels are acting as hot sheets that lead to more erosion and global warming

However, there is a flip side to this. China is improving its environment at the expense of other nations. For instance, it imports a lot of timber from countries such as Vietnam, Madagascar and Russia.

"We think that success in reducing deforestation in China is basically being transferred into deforestation in other regions," Viña said.

"Over the long-term, sustainable forest management in China is important for forests in the rest of the world," said Robert Tansey, senior adviser for external affairs and policy in Northeast Asia and Greater China at The Nature Conservancy, who was not involved with the study.

"The exporting countries are suffering from deforestation," Liu added. "A large proportion of the wood products imported to China have been used to make furniture for developed countries such as the USA and those in Europe."

The findings were published in the March 18, 2016 issue of the journal Science Advances.