Study On Evolution Of Forestry Policies In China

Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China,great achievement had been made in China’s forestry construction.The latest version of Forest Law(2019)puts forward the general requirements that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets.It bestows a new mission to forestry and brings a new opportunity to forestry development.At the same time,it also puts forward new requirements and makes forestry development facing new challenges.Under the background of the time,it is of significance to review the 70 years’ evolution of China’s forestry policy and explore its evolution law for the continuous improvement of China’s forestry policy system in the new era,the promotion of high-quality development of forestry,and the promotion of ecological civilization to a new level.In this study,2495 forestry policy documents issued at the national level from 1949 to 2019 are selected as research samples.Using python,UCINET and other software,this paper makes an in-depth study on the evolution law of China’s forestry policy in the past 70 years from four dimensions: the number of policy,policy power,policy-making authorities and policy theme area.To be more specific,first of all,using descriptive statistical methods to analyze the evolution of the number of forestry policy.Secondly,this paper constructs the evaluation standard of policy power,summarizes and analyzes the evolution of forestry policy power.Then,using bibliometrics and social network analysis,this paper explores the characteristics of network structure and the evolution path of the cooperation networks of Chinese forestry policymaking authorities.On this basis,we draw a two-dimensional matrix with breadth and depth of cooperation and analyze the evolution characteristics of the role of policymaking authorities in the network.Finally,using the methods of social network analysis and cluster analysis,the paper quantitatively and visually shows the theme area and evolution law of China’s forestry policy and further analyzes the focus of forestry policy in each stage.The results show that:(1)The number of China’s forestry policy shows a trend of gradual decline after a fluctuation in the wave,and it gradually tends to be stable.Among them,the number of forestry laws and administrative regulations has remained stable;the number of department regulations has increased significantly;the number of guidance documents with greater policy power issued by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council has steadily increased;the number of notification documents issued by ministries has increased significantly.(2)The main body of the forestry policy-making authorities is dominant and diversified.The State Forestry administrative department,the State Council,the National People’s Congress and National Aflorestation Environmental Protection Commission are the main departments that independently issue documents.The State Forestry administrative department,the Ministry of finance,the national development and Reform Commission and the state agricultural administrative department are the important leaders of the joint policy-making authorities of forestry policies;the CPC Central Committee and the State Council were both the leaders of the joint policy-making authorities at the early stage,and they had transformed into independent policy-making authorities at the later stage,reflecting the role of "director" in policymaking.Besides,the cooperation network of policy-making authorities had evolved from the loose situation with the State Forestry administrative department as the core to the equilibrium situation with the State Forestry administrative department as the network core and multiple departments as the local core.(3)The theme area of forestry policy is extensive and deep,and its evolution is highly consistent with the evolution of national economic and social development strategic objectives.Among them,afforestation and forest management,resource protection and utilization,forestry reform and development,forest disaster prevention and mitigation and emergency management have been the highlights.The development orientation of forestry policy presents an evolutionary trend from "providing production factors and directly promoting the development of the national economy",to "considering the utilization and protection of forest resources to promote the sustainable development of forestry",and then to "providing ecological services and products as the leading role".The orientation of Forestry in ecology and people’s livelihood is constantly highlighted.In the future,from the point of policymaking authoritative bodies,it should be continuing to adhere to the macro guidance of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council;giving full play to the main force role of the State Forestry administrative department;maintaining the continuous attention of the National People’s Congress and National Aflorestation Environmental Protection Commission;actively cooperating with the Ministry of finance,the national development and Reform Commission,and the state agricultural administrative department to obtain critical support,and extensively contacting with other relevant departments to form "joint forces" for forestry development to the greatest extent to promote high-quality forestry development in China in a coordinated and efficient way.From the point of the number of forestry policy,it should be continuing to maintain the stable but a small number of important documents with high authority issued by the CPC Central Committee.National ministries should give full play to the flexibility of low and medium authoritative policies,such as departmental laws and regulations,to comprehensively guide the scientific development of forestry.In terms of policy theme areas,it should be continuing to maintain the consistency with the strategic objectives of national economic and social development;focusing on key tasks,such as afforestation and forest management,resource protection and utilization,forestry reform and development,forest disaster prevention and mitigation and emergency management,to lay a solid foundation for forestry to cope with climate change,promote regional development overall lift people out of poverty,and provide ecological services and public products.