0858-B1

Ecological and Environmental Loss Evaluation and Policy Analysis on Commercial Plantation Management in China

Li Zhiyong^[1]

Abstract

China is the world's biggest plantation country and has faced big ecological and environmental problems in plantation management. The improper cultivation of commercial plantations leads to environmental losses such as land degradation, soil erosion, pests and diseases. Environmental cost is easily neglected by executives, but it does exist.

The paper presents results from a study that analyses some of the characteristics of environmental costs and looks at the specific case of environmental costs in a commercial plantation.

1. The Ecological and Environmental Problems of Plantation Management

The man face serious environmental crises like soil degradation, erosion, desertification, shortage of water resources, biodiverstiy decline, air pollution, green-house effect and so on. The worldwide forest resources have been destructed seriously since the Industrial Revolution, still disappeared at the speed of 20 million hectare each year at present. It was an important way to restore vegetation, reduce pressure on natural forest logging and protect ecological environment to make vigorous effort to develop plantation.

The Chinese government has highlighted the position and action for timber supply and environmental protection by developing the commercial plantation since the new China has built in 1949. To summarize the plantation area from 1949 to 1996, the total planting areas is over 100 million hectare, which including near 38 million hectare commercial plantation(included: 21 million ha's timber plantation; 16 million ha's non-timber plantation; 1.3 million ha's bamboo plantation).

Table 1 Area of Plantation and Structure of Forest Type in China (1949~1997)

Source: Chinese Forestry Yearbook 1985, 1986-1998

As along as the huge economic benefits has been achieved from the plantation development, the related ecological and environmental destruction and value loss has been happened obviously at same time. At present, the low-yield-plantation is over 33 million hectare in China, among of them, the low-yield-timber-plantation is of 50%. Furthermore, the harm and loss by forest disease and pest is going to increase as the areas of pure plantation is expanded, which total areas is over 8 million hectare per year and most of them is plantation, the growth yield loss is over 17 million cubic meters per year, and the economic loss is more than 5 billion RMB.

At current research on the cost and benefits of plantation management, more attention has been putted on the economic field, little on ecological and environmental field, especially few on environmental cost. The environmental cost of plantation management is consisted mainly of disease & pest, land degradation, soil erosion, biodiversity decrease etc by unreasonable management. As external cost in plantation management, the ecological and environmental loss has always been avoided by plantation manager although it's existed obviously. If it can not be paid attention more and controled available, the benefits goal and sustainable development target of plantation in China will be discounted directly.

2. The Environmental Cost of Commercial Plantation Management

At current research on the cost and benefits of plantation management, more attention has been putted on the economic field, little on ecological and environmental field, especially few on environmental cost. The environmental cost of plantation management is consisted mainly of disease & pest, land degradation, soil erosion, biodiversity decrease etc by unreasonable management. As external cost in plantation management, the ecological and environmental loss has always been avoided by plantation manager although it's existed obviously. If it can not be paid attention more and controlled available, the benefits goal and sustainable development target of plantation in China will be discounted directly.

At current research on the cost and benefits of plantation management, more attention has been putted on the economic field, little on ecological and environmental field, especially few on environmental cost.The environmental cost of plantation management is consisted mainly of disease & pest, land degradation, soil erosion, biodiversity decrease etc by unreasonable management.

2.1 Environmental cost object of commercial plantation management

Cost object of commercial plantation can be divided into many levels. In general, it includes economic cost, environmental cost and social cost. Definition of various cost objects can be shown in the next table:

Table 2 Cost object of commercial plantation management

According to the general definition of environmental cost, the environmental cost of commercial plantation is the total value in currency of the display environmental cost, resulted from the short-term operation (one cutting circle) of commercial plantation management, and the un-display environmental cost, resulted from the long-term operation (serial cutting circle).

2.1.1 Display Environmental Cost and Un-display Environmental Cost

So, in the light of the characteristics of commercial plantation management like long cycle, regeneration and multi-benefits, this research develops the concepts of Display Environmental Cost and Un-display Environmental Cost in order to describe, analyses and calculate the environmental cost of commercial plantation.

• Display Environmental Cost of Commercial Plantation is the value in currency of environmental losses resulted from operation, which is directly related with cost object and can be economical but expediently backdated in an economy harvest (cutting circle).

• Un-display Environmental Cost of Commercial Plantation is the value in currency of environmental losses resulted from operation, which is directly related with cost object and can't be economical but expediently backdated in serial economy harvests (cutting circle).

High and low of commercial plantation environmental cost, not only be decided by the size of losses suffered by victims (include the managers themselves), and also be decided by the evaluation from these victim. (Namely pay will, on economics meaning). Because environmental cost represents all environmental losses during the management, therefore, while we calculate environmental cost, we must separate the environmental cost, which has been reckon in the production cost (expenses in pests and diseases control, fertilization, irrigation etc). On the economics meaning, the environmental cost of this part is already internalized, but for the sake of the completion of analysis and evaluation of environmental cost, it is very necessary to separate this internal environmental cost.

2.1.2 Inflow Environmental Cost and Outflow Environmental Cost

In this research, the author put forward the conceptions of Inflow Environmental Cost and Outflow Environmental Cost to separate and evaluate the internal environmental cost of plantation management.

• Inflow environmental cost of Commercial Plantation is the value in currency of the losses that the ecological and environmental damage in the course of forest management brings to the operators themselves. In Display Environmental Cost of Commercial Plantation, Inflow Environmental Cost conclude: stand volume losses by pests and diseases, pests & diseases control costs, extra fertilizer costs, slash-and-burn costs. In Un-display Environmental Cost of Commercial Plantation, Inflow Environmental Cost conclude: stand growth losses by land degradation in the n+1 successive rotation of Chinese Fir commercial plantations, destruction of original vegetation and biomass losses for site preparation (Slash and burn etc.), losses of biomass which is not recycled for timber harvest (losses of N, P, K, and organic matter which are taken away with harvested biomass), timber yield losses for fallow or shifted cultivation of non-purpose tree to improve forest land and productivity.

• Outflow environmental cost of Commercial Plantation is the value in currency of the losses that the ecological and environmental damage in the course of forest management brings to the society. There are two aspects of "outflow", one is the action that the managers shirk the responsibility of environmental losses in plantation management; the other is the outflow regulation of environmental losses for incoherent and frangibility of plantation system itself. In Display Environmental Cost of Commercial Plantation, Outflow Environmental Cost concludes: agricultural production losses in surrounding areas which are caused by soil erosion, people's life and property losses in surrounding areas which are caused by soil erosion, river and lake siltation losses caused by soil erosion; In Un-display Environmental Cost of Commercial Plantation, Outflow Environmental Cost conclude: Landscape-diversity losses by simple forest structure in terms of the declined values of forest landscape, recreation and enjoyment, destruction of original vegetation and biomass losses for site preparation (slash and burn etc.); losses of biomass which is not recycled for timber harvest (losses of N, P, K, and organic matter which are taken away with harvested biomass), biodiversity losses by the establishment of pure plantations in terms of the reduction, degradation, and disappearance of undercover vegetation and the reduction of forest fauna and soil microorganisms.

2.2 Environmental Cost Building of Commercial Plantation and Its Relationship

This research on environmental cost building of commercial plantation and its relationship can be synthesized expression by table 2.

Table 3 Environmental cost Building of commercial plantation and its relationship

PEC: Plantation Environmental Cost
DEC: Display Environmental Cost
UEC: Un-display Environmental Cost
IEC: Inflow Environmental Cost
OEC: Outflow Environmental Cost

3. Conclusion and Discussion

In light of the above problems, and targeted with environmental costs for sustainable management of commercial plantation, the economics background, economic theory, cost elements, cost accounting and indicators and methods, cases of environmental costs accounting for commercial plantations, policies and approaches of environmental costs for commercial plantation have been systematically and comprehensively studied by author. The study has obtained 4 aspects of preliminary achievements, which are:

Conception of environmental costs for commercial plantation management has been put forward. Environmental costs was a difficulty in the field of environmental economics study, both in oversea and domestic the relevant study focuses were to analyze and account economic losses on environment from industrial pollution and using natural forest, the study on environmental costs for management of commercial plantations was still a gap yet. In the light of environmental damages such as soil erosion, pests and diseases, biomass losses and degradation of productivity caused by land clearing, site preparation, tending treatment and harvesting in the process of commercial plantation management, all these factors have been incorporated into environmental costs and cost accounting and control for them were also conducted by author;

A classified system of environmental costs for commercial plantation has been set up. The economics background of environmental costs, virtual environmental costs of SEEA, environmental economic losses (environmental costs) in using resources (including forest resources) of SNA, types, natures, laws, assessment and accounting methods of marginal external costs in pricing natural resources were systematically commented, and on the basis of that, in view of the characteristics of commercial plantations like long cycle, various cutting cycle, ecological fragility and widespread influence, conception and types of both dominance and recessive environmental costs for commercial plantation as well as conception and types of convergence and overflow environmental costs of dominance and recessive environmental costs have been put forward in the author's research.

Accounting of environmental costs for commercial plantation has been conducted. Targeted with the main commercial plantation species of Chinese fir (Cunninghamia laceolata) and Mason pine (Pinus massoniana) in Southern China and in view of stand growth losses of different generation ones caused by degradation of productivity, stand volume losses by pests and diseases, fertility losses with soil erosion by site preparation and biomass losses by harvesting, case studies on the un-display environmental cost (UEC), the display environmental cost (DEC), the inflow environmental cost (IEC) and the outflow environmental cost (OEC) for commercial plantation management have been conducted in author's dissertation respectively.

Table 4 Item Estimates of Environmental Costs of Commercial Plantation Management in China

Unit: US$ 100 million

Conception of environmental management for commercial plantation has been advanced. On the basis of analysis and study on forest sustainable harvesting, forest ecosystem management, near nature forest and new forestry theory, sustainable management models for controlling environmental costs for commercial plantation have been elaborated, and environmental management strategies for commercial plantation, developing plantations, speeding up market orientation process and establishment of environmental certification system and drawing up criterion and indicators for sustainable management have also been put forward in the dissertation.

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