OREANDA-NEWS. November 07, 2011. China’s State Forest Administration and the Federation of Swedish Family Forest Owners, a Member of the International Family Forest Alliance (IFFA) signed a recognition and cooperation MOU in Guangzhou in the presence and under the auspices of the Ministers of Commerce and Trade of China and Sweden, as The Nordic Forest Owners' Associations reported.

The Chinese Forest Tenure Reform aims for better management of forest natural resources for the benefit for people and nature. The reform includes the indispensable corner stones: secure land tenure rights, free decision making within the legal framework, free initiative and voluntary participation in tree growers associations / cooperatives and a supportive forest extension service. Trees and forests will now have a clear value for families, providing an incentive to invest in management and more planting. This will improve the socio-economic situation for rural small land holders.

A series of exchanges of experience have already taken place in China and Scandinavia. The Chinese determination to now go for a decentralized rural population focus in the management of the forest will hopefully inspire other countries facing the devastating forest situation China had in the past. Besides the general corner stones for involvement of forest smallholders, mentioned above, the focus in the present exchanges is how smallholders can voluntary organize themselves to assure that forest product values remain with the tree growers.

The Chinese model for forest tenure is based on documented forest tenure certificates declaring user rights for a specific area of forest for normally 70 years. This will cover 3-4 planting rotations. Certificates can be inherited, sold and serve as security for borrowing money. The area of land described in a certificate is also physically marked on the ground.