China

1. Collective Ownership with Individual Property Rights to Forestland

Rating Rationale

General Description The primary purpose of China’s collective forest tenure reform is to devolve tenure rights to households. In this sense, "China's situation differs from global trends, as 58% of China's forested land has been legally owned by collectives for decades, and reforms permit the breaking-up of collectively held land and encourage private land markets" (Xu et al. 2010). In this process, the Village Assembly (open to all villagers) decides how much of the old collective forest should be turned over to individual households, and how much should remain under Village Council (restricted to representative of villagers) control. The portion that is not devolved to households remains collective forest, with rights vested in the Village Council, a democratically elected body. To date, households have received certificates for about 60% of former collective forest area (Interview with Jintao). This study considers the scenario where the Village Assembly decides to leave part of the land as collective. We do not consider the bundle of rights from the individual point of view; however, we have included some information about individual rights in these comments.

Legal documents consulted: Article 10 of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China (PRC) of 1982 (as amended in 2004); Forest Law of 1984 (1998); Guarantee Law of 1995, Law on Land Management of 2002; The Law on Land Contracting in Rural Areas of 2002; Property Law of 2007

Legislation confers rights to: All members of the community in which the All rural land, including rural forestland, is owned by all members of the community and collective is formed not by the administrative body (Ping and Nielsen 2010, 5). The members are represented by either the village’s collective economic organization or villagers’ committee council; the collective economic organizations or groups of villagers; or the collective economic organizations of the townships (Art. 60, Property Law, 2007).

Access 1 “Land in the rural and suburban areas is owned by collectives except for those portions which belong to the state in accordance with the law” (Art. 10, PRC Constitution, 1982).

Withdraw (NTFP) 2 We consider the scenario where the Village Council decides not to parcel out 100% of collective forestland to individual households. In this context, subsistence use is free. Commercial use is subject to procurement of necessary permits (Art. 32, Forest Law, Withdraw (Timber) 2 1984). The revenue from commercial activities goes into a village account. Some restrictions do apply, for example, in protected forest areas (Art. 31, Forest Law, 1984; Interviews with Jintao, Xu, Jianchu, and Ping). Management 2 The administrative body of the collective is authorized to "operate and manage" their collectively-owned land (Art. 10, Land Management Law, 1998; Ping and Nielsen 2010, 4). However, "ambiguities exist as to the specific entity responsible for collective ownership of the land" (Ping and Keliang 2007, 13-15). Management rights are limited by environmental and other regulations (Ping and Keliang 2007, 9-15; Ping and Nielsen 2010). The law also guarantees the right of individual members of the collective to manage their individual plot of forest land outside the limits of the collectively-owned land.

Exclusion 1 “Land in the rural and suburban areas is owned by collectives except for those portions which belong to the state in accordance with the law” (Art. 10, PRC Constitution, 1982). (See also: Ping and Keliang 2007, 13)

Alienation (Lease) 1 Collective forestland can be divided into two categories: land allocated to households and land that is not. The land not allocated to households can be contracted to non- villagers if approved by 2/3 of the village and must be granted through open bidding or auction. Land owned by households can be contracted to non-villagers and the transaction is usually governed by contract law. Collective forestland located within Ecological Forest Land cannot be alienated (Ping and Nielsen 2010, 8).

Alienation (Collateral) 0 "The mortgage of 'use rights to arab land, residential plots, private plots, private mountains and other collective land is prohibited' " (Art. 37, Guarantee Law, 1995; Ping and Keliang 2007, 17). Mortgage of wasteland by individuals holding a use right is explicitly permitted upon collective approval (Art. 34, Guarantee Law, 1995. Ping and Keliang 2007, 17). Individuals may also mortgage trees (Art. 42, Guarantee Law, 1995).

Alienation (Sale) 0 Forest land cannot be sold (Art. 4, Rural Land Contracting Law, 2002; Ping and Keliang 2007, 9-10). Revocability 1 "The state may in the public interest take over land for its use in accordance to the law" (Art. 10, PRC Constitution, 1982). “The forced or compulsory transfer of farmers' forest land is strictly prohibited, including by the government” (Art. 16 and 61, Rural Land Contracting Law, 2002; Ping and Nielsen 2010, 9). Under the National Forest Protection Program of 1998, the government can impose logging or other bans for "the goods of the nation" without proper compensation (Ping and Keliang 2007, 28-30). Compensation is required in the case of expropriation (Art. 16, Rural Land Contracting Law, 2002; Interview with Xu).

Duration of Rights (Years) Unlimited There is no time limit to the right established by the Constitution: “Land in the rural and suburban areas is owned by collectives except for those portions which belong to the state in accordance with the law” (Art. 10, PRC Constitution, 1982).