Supporting policy, legal and institutional frameworks for the reform of forest tenure in China’s collective forests and promoting knowledge exchange GCP/CPR/038/EC Working Paper: WP – 023 - E Assessment of Forest Tenure Trade Centers in Jiangxi Province The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The views expressed in this information product are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of FAO. All rights reserved. FAO encourages the reproduction and dissemination of material in this information product. Non-commercial uses will be authorized free of charge, upon request. 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GCP/CPR/038/EC Working Paper˖WP – 023 - E Assessment of Forest Tenure Trade Centers in Jiangxi Province International Exchange & Cooperation Center of Forest Economics, Beijing Forestry University Forestry Department of Jiangxi Province State Forestry Administration of China Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Rome, 2010 Content 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 The Description of the Problem .............................................................................................. 1 1.2 Literary Review....................................................................................................................... 2 1.2.1 The Outlines of the Forest Rights Trading Policy ............................................................ 2 1.2.2 The Empirical Research of the Forest Rights Trading Theory, System and Reform ........ 5 2. Goals and Methodologies ............................................................................................................ 7 2.1 Objectives ............................................................................................................................... 7 2.2 Methodologies ......................................................................................................................... 7 3. The Description of the Basic Information ................................................................................. 8 3.1 The Case Point Description ..................................................................................................... 8 3.2 The Information of the Surveyed Forest Rights Trading Center ........................................... 10 4. The Types and Procedures of the Forest Rights Trading ....................................................... 13 4.1 The Forest Rights Trading Types .......................................................................................... 13 4.2 The Forest Rights Trading Procedures and Transferability ................................................... 14 4.3 The Significance of Property Rights Trading Center in All Forest Rights Transactions ....... 16 4.4 The Advantages and Disadvantages of Each Forest Rights Trading Type ............................ 16 5. The Analysis of the Forest Rights Trading Center’s Trading Performance and Trading Status Quo ...................................................................................................................................... 17 5.1 Transaction and Management Systems and Operating Procedures ....................................... 17 5.2 The Situation of Other Services Provided by the Forest Rights Trading Center ................... 19 5.3 The Trading Advantage and Disadvantage in the Forest Rights Trading Center .................. 20 5.4 The Experience and Lessons Learned from the Forest Rights Trading Center ..................... 21 6. The Stakeholder Analysis ......................................................................................................... 22 6.1 The Trading Center Staff ....................................................................................................... 22 6.2 The Beneficiary ..................................................................................................................... 25 6.2.1 Foresters Cooperation Organization ............................................................................... 25 6.2.2 Foresters ......................................................................................................................... 27 6.2.3 The forestry enterprise ................................................................................................... 31 6.3 The rural local government and the County Forestry Bureau ............................................... 34 6.3.1 The rural local government ............................................................................................ 34 6.3.2 The County Forestry Bureau .......................................................................................... 37 6.4 Provincial Forestry Department ............................................................................................ 41 7. The SWOT Analysis of Forest Tenure Trading Center .......................................................... 43 I 8. Reformations and options to improve the FTTCs operation based on policy, legal, financial and institutional aspects................................................................................................ 46 8.1 Policy .................................................................................................................................... 46 8.2 Legislation ............................................................................................................................. 47 8.3 Governance and institutions .................................................................................................. 47 8.4 Trade system including hardware and software .................................................................... 48 II 1. Introduction 1.1 The Description of the Problem According to "the decision to accelerate the development of forestry" released by the Chinese government in 2003, the State Forestry Administration launched the Pilot Project Reform of the Collective Forest Rights System in 2004 in Jiangxi Province and other three provinces as the first pilot projects. As of 2007, Jiangxi Province completed the principal reform, which regarded "clearing property rights, reducing taxes, liberalizing operation, regulating circulation," as the main content. After that, the property rights of 152 million acres of the forest land in the province were affirmed and the property rights clearing rate reached 98.5%. Among the 131 million acres of collective forest land having the clear ownership, the sub-mountain-home rate was 82.5%, and involved 6.35 million farmers, and the enthusiasm of the foresters to engage in the forestry production and operation activities was stimulated. At the same time, the subject number of the forestry production and management increased unprecedentedly, while the scale of the subject production and management rapidly declined. Therefore, the forest land transfer has an important practical means so as to promote the collection of the production factors, such as forestry stumpage and forest land, to make the forestry production intensive and in scale, to improve the forestry productivity. To promote and regulate the transfer of the forest land and trees, ensure the transfer of income to the huge number of foresters and the accomplishment of the forestry production benefits, Jiangxi Province promulgated the "Regulations of Forest Resource Circulation," released the "View about the Reform of forestry ownership system ", Constructed the provincial and county (city) level circulation platform, standardized the transfer process, all of these initiatives made the collective forest land and trees transfer in a relatively perfected framework. As of the end of 2009, the province has established 64 county (city) Forest Rights Trading Centers, the construction area is 26,900 square meters, the number of employees is 532; and another 15 county (city, district) level Forest Rights Trading Centers are under construction; the establishment of a provincial Forest Rights Trading Center, named, the South Forest Rights Exchange, was set up on November 7th,2009 in Nanchang, whose office was located on the