Poverty Alleviation of State Forestry Administration

　　【Overview】 In 2010, adhering to the guideline of sustainable poverty alleviation, based on the forestry advantages Jiuwan Mountain areas, combined with the construction of key forestry projects, in order to improve the living conditions of impoverished areas and enhance the self-development capacity of impoverished areas and poor people, the State Forestry Administration further strengthened support for the designated poor areas and achieved remarkable results. The impoverished areas have poor natural conditions and a large poverty-stricken population, the contractions between economic development and environmental protection are still prominent and the ecological environment is still very fragile, so there are still some problems and difficulties to be addressed in the poverty alleviation and development in forestry. Therefore, the poverty reduction in forestry industry based on Jiuwan Mountain area is still a heavy task and we still have a long way to go.

　　【"12th Five-Year Plan" for counterpart poverty alleviation】In order to do a good job of counterpart poverty alleviation in forestry in the "12th Five-Year Plan" period, in accordance with the overall deployment and relevant requirements of LGOP on the anti-poverty work in the "12th Five-Year Plan" period and the future, based on the actual development situation of the forestry industry in Jiuwan Mountain area, the State Forestry Administration organized relevant personnel to develop the "12th Five-Year Plan" for counterpart poverty alleviation in forestry. Based on summarizing the achievement of counterpart poverty reduction in forestry over the past decade since the implementation of the "Outline for Poverty Alleviation and Development of China's Rural Areas (2001-2010)", the plan analyzed the situation of poverty reduction in forestry and relevant problems and put forward the general idea, basic principles, objectives and key tasks of poverty alleviation in forestry in the “12th Five-Year Plan” period, providing guidance for the orderly implementation of poverty reduction in forestry in the “12th Five-Year Plan” period.

　　【Key anti-poverty projects】 The State Forestry Administration actively coordinated relevant departments to increase investment in the construction of key projects such as natural forest protection, returning farmland to forest, treatment of stony desertification, the Yangtze River Protection Forest and natural reserves in the 19 designated poverty-stricken counties, which effectively promoted the ecological construction, boosted the development of forestry industry and helped local people to shake off poverty and become rich. According to statistics, since 2001, the State Forestry Administration has allocated a total of 2.7 billion Yuan (including nearly 400 million in 2010) for the forestry development in the 19 impoverished counties. In the 8 poverty-stricken counties in Jiuwan Mountain area of Guangxi, the forestry coverage rate increased from 56% to 71%, forestry production value surged from 460 million Yuan to 1.45 billion Yuan and rural per capita net income rose from 1,000 Yuan to 2,300 Yuan; In the 11 impoverished counties in Jiuwan Mountain area of Guizhou Province, the forestry coverage rate increased from 49.52% to 61.22%, forestry production value surged from 313 million Yuan to 1.08 billion Yuan and the rural per capita net income rose from 1,166 Yuan to 1,868 Yuan. The 19 poor counties have all extricated themselves from the dilemma of “two danger”- crisis of forest resources and economic distress at the early stage. The continuous improvement of ecological environment laid a solid foundation for the coordinated economic and social development in local areas.

　　【Poverty alleviation by science and technology】 Through organizing practical forestry technological and management trainings and sending experts and technological personnel to the countryside, the State Forestry Administration actively promoted the application of appropriate forestry technology and gave on-site guidance to help solve technical problems in the grassroots, which improved the awareness and level of science and technology of local cadres and masses. Since 2001, it has successively held more than 30 trainings (including four in 2010) on forestry knowledge and management and organized relevant experts and technical personnel to the countryside for more than 20 times. In 2010, a number of new-type forest service people stayed in Jiuwan Mountain areas to support local poverty reduction who can easily learn technology and are willing to serve local residents.

　　【Poverty alleviation by sending cadres】 As of 2010, the State Forestry Administration had sent more than 170 cadres at all levels (including ten in 2010) to the impoverished areas. The poverty relief cadres cooperated with local governments to implement the pro-poor policies of the Central Committee and the State Council, conducted field research and did a lot of practical things and good things for the masses in Jiuwan Mountain area, making a contribution to the coordinated ecological, economic and social development of local areas. Through the practice in the grassroots, the cadres also enhanced their capability and quality and built good relationship with the masses.

　　【Deliver newspapers to the countryside】According to the fixed-point poverty alleviation plan in forestry industry, since 2001, the State Forestry Administration has been carrying out the activity of delivering newspaper to the countryside. The State Forestry Administration entrusted China Green Times Press to issue 400 copies of China Green Times to 380 township forestry stations in 19 impoverished counties in Jiuwan Mountains in Guizhou and Guangxi so that the people could learn the state’s forestry policies and various information for shaking off poverty in forestry industry in time.

　　【Pro-poor measures】 Combined with the implementation of key forestry projects, in order to address the food and clothing problem of the poor and stabilize the situation of those out of poverty, focusing on improving the ecological environment of contiguous poverty-stricken areas and give play to the advantage of mountain areas, the State Forestry Administration strived to develop forestry productivity, increase forestry production, achieve win-win situation of ecology and industry, effectively improve the self-development capacity of impoverished areas and poor people and accelerate the pace of poverty reduction to lay a solid foundation for building a moderately prosperous society.

1. Take ecological construction and protection as the primary task for counterpart poverty alleviation and development in forestry in the new era. With economic development, social progress and the improvement of people's living standards, ecological need has become the first social need for forestry. It has become the primary task for poverty alleviation and development in forestry in impoverished mountain areas in the new era to contain the overall trend of ecological deterioration in poverty-stricken mountainous areas as soon as possible, reduce the impact of natural disasters, improve the production and living conditions in poor areas and broaden the survival and development space to provide a strong guarantee for the sustainable regional economic and social development. From another perspective, the construction of key forestry project itself is the largest national poverty alleviation and development project and is a benevolent project to improve the ecological environment, boost economic development and help farmers to increase income. Jiuwan Mountain area has been fully covered by the key forestry projects such as protection of natural forests, returning farmland to forest, shelter forest system in Yangtze River and Pearl River Delta, rocky desertification control, construction of nature reserves and wildlife protection, and covered by the national planning accordingly.

2. Take the development of emerging green industries and the optimization of industrial structure of forestry as an important means to increase the income of the masses in impoverished mountain areas and steadily life the poor out of poverty. Based on the situation of economic development, characteristics of resources and industrial advantages in the impoverished counties of Jiuwan Mountains, combined with ongoing forestry projects, based on market demands, the State Forestry Administration concentrated on helping the impoverished areas to develop a number of famous, featured, competitive and new-type forests, fast-growing and high-yield plantation, fine germchit fostering and eco-tourism industry with good market prospects, little investment and fast effect that can benefit a wide range of people and help the masses to shake off poverty, as well as related infrastructure construction projects. Through project implementation, it effectively enhanced the survival and self-development capacity of the poor, laying a foundation for steadily lifting the poor out of poverty.

3. Explore the establishment of new mechanisms and new models for the poverty alleviation and development in forestry in line with the market economy law. Through poverty reduction by financial assistance, project construction, information and technical support, the State Forestry Administration explored the mechanisms and models that can be effectively integrated into the market and can constantly expanding re-production by self-accumulation and development. In accordance with the overall requirements for forestry reform and development, through integrated innovative measures in system, mechanism and science and technology, it vigorously promoted the development of private forestry industry, formulated relevant policies to encourage excellent talents to support poverty alleviation and development and give play to their leading role in technical service and demonstration. Through launching joint-stock companies and cooperative businesses, leasing, renting, merging and acquisition, it encouraged and attracted private capital to invest in poverty alleviation and development in forestry and, according to the principle of "win-win cooperation", mobilized social forces to participate in the poverty alleviation and development in forestry so as to bring new vitality to anti-poverty work with new mechanisms.