SCANDINAVIAN FOREST ECONOMICS SCANDINAVIAN FOREST ECONOMICS Scandinavian Forest Economics Scandinavian Forest No. 40, 2004 No. 40, 2004 Scandinavian Forest Economics No. 43, 2010 Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Scandinavian Society of Forest Economics Gilleleje, Denmark, May 2010 Proceedings Proceedings Finn Helles and Petrine Steen Nielsen (eds.) No. 43, 2010 43, No. of the Biennial Meeting of the of the BiennialCopenhagen Meeting of the Scandinavian Society of Forest Economics Scandinavian Society of Forest Economics Vantaa, Finland, 12th-15th May, 2004 Vantaa, Finland, 12th-15th May, 2004 Heikki Pajuoja and Heimo Karppinen (eds.) Heikki Pajuoja and Heimo Karppinen (eds.) A5 omslag · Scandinavian Forest Economics nr 43 · NOV 2010.indd Vantaa1 Vantaa 22/11/10 12.38 forest management. In this context, trade of forest properties becomes especially important, as it could help increase the scale and efficiency of forest management. To promote and standardize the trade of forest properties so that the Survey and analysis of forest land trade centers in benefits of forest owners can be secured and the efficiency of forest southern China: A case study of Jiangxi Province management increased, Jiangxi Province promulgated two policy documents, "Regulations of Forest Resource Transactions" and "Opinions Jun-Chang Liu and Wen-Hui Chen about the Reform of Forest Property Rights System", constructed the School of Economics & Management, Beijing Forestry University, provincial and county (city) level trade platforms, and standardized the transaction process. As of the end of 2009, the province had established 64 Abstract county(city)-level forest land trade centers with a total of 532 employees The most important measure in addressing the forest ownership/land use and another 15 were under construction. A provincial forest land trade center, rights market are the creation of forest land trade centers (FTC), which are named the South Forest Property Rights Exchange, was set up on November established to facilitate the transfer of forest lands in China. The aim of this 7th, 2009 in Nanchang. By the end of 2009, the trade centers across the paper is to analyze the implementation, bottleneck, opportunity, challenge province had completed 39 900 transactions with a total forest land area of and developing trend of FTCs, based on the status quo of the FTCs in 251.89 thousand ha and the total value of the transactions amounted to CNY collectively-owned forest regions in Southern China. This paper uses PRA (Chinese yuan)2.449 billion. Among these, 5900 transactions were approaches including questionnaires, semi-structured interview to survey completed through auction, tender, bidding or listing etc., involving 1.233 the status of forest land trade in the FTCs in four selected counties and the million mu forest land and a total value of CNY 1.676 billion. Meanwhile, perceptions of their staff, beneficiaries, local governments, county forestry the province opened the possibility of using forest lands as security for loan, bureaus and Provincial Forestry Department. The study reveals that the the total number of mortgage loans were 9761, involving 138.99 thousand establishment and operation of FTCs are subject to a wide range of policy, ha forest lands, and the total loans amounted to CNY 1.819 billion. legal, financial and institutional constraints. The analysis shows that Along with the establishment of the forest land trade platform, different stakeholders have different opinions about their own benefits. The transaction of forest properties in Jiangxi Province has become more and staffs of FTCs are concerned about the future of the FTCs and recommend more active. The price of forest land has increased greatly. The sources of to expand the extension of their services; Beneficiaries considered that the capital and the total investment in forestry both have been increasing. Forest forest land trade involves high transaction costs and a complex procedure. investment and management have attracted many migrant workers returning Finally, this paper summarizes the experience and lessons about the FTC, to their home villages, and a variety of co-operative forest management and discusses the Proposals to Improve the FTCs in future. organizations have emerged. Consequently, the forestry productivity has been advanced to a certain degree. However, several related studies indicate Keywords: forest tenure, forest land trade centers, survey that trade in forest properties outside the county (city) level trade centers is also very active, and the legal status of the forest property trade centers is 1. Introduction not very clear. The reasons why some forest owners do not go to the trade Following the release of "The Decision to Accelerate the Development of center to make the transaction are not well understood. But trade outside the Forestry" by the Chinese Central Government in 2003, the State Forestry trade centers is perceived less secure. Administration initiated the Pilot Project on collective forest tenure reform In this study we investigate the current states of forest property in 2004 in Jiangxi Province and three other provinces. As of 2007, Jiangxi transactions and the operation of the county level forest property trade Province completed the major steps of the reform, which include "clarifying centers and their role in the local forest property market. We also examine property rights, reducing taxes, liberalizing management, and standardizing the factors restraining the operation of the trade centers. The objective is to forest land transactions." The property rights of 8.73 million ha of the summarize the successful experiences and the lessons that can be learned collective forest lands in the province were redefined, of which 82.5% were from the operation of the trade centers in the past years, and to discuss granted to 6.35 million households. This resulted in a substantial increase in appropriate measures to improve the efficiency of the forest property trade the number of management units and significant decrease in the scale of centers. 172 1 2 forest management. In this context, trade of forest properties becomes especially important, as it could help increase the scale and efficiency of forest management. To promote and standardize the trade of forest properties so that the Survey and analysis of forest land trade centers in benefits of forest owners can be secured and the efficiency of forest southern China: A case study of Jiangxi Province management increased, Jiangxi Province promulgated two policy documents, "Regulations of Forest Resource Transactions" and "Opinions Jun-Chang Liu and Wen-Hui Chen about the Reform of Forest Property Rights System", constructed the School of Economics & Management, Beijing Forestry University, provincial and county (city) level trade platforms, and standardized the transaction process. As of the end of 2009, the province had established 64 Abstract county(city)-level forest land trade centers with a total of 532 employees The most important measure in addressing the forest ownership/land use and another 15 were under construction. A provincial forest land trade center, rights market are the creation of forest land trade centers (FTC), which are named the South Forest Property Rights Exchange, was set up on November established to facilitate the transfer of forest lands in China. The aim of this 7th, 2009 in Nanchang. By the end of 2009, the trade centers across the paper is to analyze the implementation, bottleneck, opportunity, challenge province had completed 39 900 transactions with a total forest land area of and developing trend of FTCs, based on the status quo of the FTCs in 251.89 thousand ha and the total value of the transactions amounted to CNY collectively-owned forest regions in Southern China. This paper uses PRA (Chinese yuan)2.449 billion. Among these, 5900 transactions were approaches including questionnaires, semi-structured interview to survey completed through auction, tender, bidding or listing etc., involving 1.233 the status of forest land trade in the FTCs in four selected counties and the million mu forest land and a total value of CNY 1.676 billion. Meanwhile, perceptions of their staff, beneficiaries, local governments, county forestry the province opened the possibility of using forest lands as security for loan, bureaus and Provincial Forestry Department. The study reveals that the the total number of mortgage loans were 9761, involving 138.99 thousand establishment and operation of FTCs are subject to a wide range of policy, ha forest lands, and the total loans amounted to CNY 1.819 billion. legal, financial and institutional constraints. The analysis shows that Along with the establishment of the forest land trade platform, different stakeholders have different opinions about their own benefits. The transaction of forest properties in Jiangxi Province has become more and staffs of FTCs are concerned about the future of the FTCs and recommend more active. The price of forest land has increased greatly. The sources of to expand the extension of their services; Beneficiaries considered that the capital and the total investment in forestry both have been increasing. Forest forest land trade involves high transaction costs and a complex procedure. investment and management have attracted many migrant workers returning Finally, this paper summarizes the experience and lessons about the FTC, to their home villages, and a variety of co-operative forest management