More than 3.4 million hectares of forests in China are expected to become certified under the Chinese national forest certification system, CFCC (China Forest Certification Council), in 2011,
following an agreement between the Beijing Zhonglin Tianhe Forest Certification Center and the Yichun Forest Authority announced recently.

According to the agreement, the Yichun Forest Authority is committed to certify all fifteen forest management units under its oversight, totalling an area of 2.67 million hectares in 2011. In 2010, already more than 700.000 hectares of forests underwent CFCC certification pre-assessments and audits in Northern and Southern China.

China currently has the highest afforestation rate of any country or region in the world, increasing its forest cover from 12% twenty years ago to more than 20% in 2010. With more than 200 million hectares of forest, China is one of the most forested countries globally, and is continuing to implement policy measures to increase the quality and quantity of its forests.

The agreement was presented at a recent press conference in Beijing with participation of Mr. Zhang Yongli, Deputy Minister of the State Forestry Administration (SFA), Mr. Wang Aiwen, Mayor of the City of Yichun, Mr. Wang Wei, General Secretary of CFCC, and Mr. Benson Yu, Director of the PEFC China Initiative.

The agreement follows the expression of intention by the CFCC at the PEFC General Assembly in November 2010 that it expects to apply for PEFC membership in 2011 and submit the scheme for endorsement, a move that was very much welcomed by PEFC and its members.