Forest harvesting restriction and forest restoration in China

The logging quota scheme was established in 1987 to control over-harvesting and promoting forest restoration in China, and it is expected to remain in place for many years to come. But the scheme has rarely been subject to careful empirical scrutiny. In this paper, we develop and estimate an empirical model to disentangle its potential effects on different dimensions of the forest condition, based on a panel dataset of 28 provinces over the period of 1989-2018. Our estimations show that while the logging quota scheme was effective in halting the country's deforestation and forest degradation from the late 1980s to the early 1990s, it has played a minimal role in promoting forest restoration and regrowth by inhibiting investment in forest management. The tremendous expansions in forest area and stock volume have been driven mostly by the sustained efforts of forest protection/ conservation programs and tenure reforms. We suggest the government to phase out the scheme, especially in regions with abundant commercial forests. To start off, policymakers should carry out various piloting and experimentation working with large forestry enterprises and farms.