Yichun City Government
China

The Problem

The Yichun Municipal government hopes that, through the nomination of UN Public Service Awards, they can popularize worldwide the practices of innovating the notion of public service, introducing a substantive and new concept, and promoting the radical change of the management operating model and ecological protection model of China’s state-owned forestry, as well we do our due contribution to striving to carry out what UN has always been initiating and advocating, and improving the harmony of human beings and nature. Meanwhile, the involvement in the application for UN Public Service Awards can also further enhance our consciousness of public service, improving the efficiency of administrative services, and promoting a better performance in our work.

Solution and Key Benefits

 What is the initiative about? (the solution)
From 2003 on, Yichun government has set “developing an ecological city” as its key city development strategy, and established the “Three Nos” principle—“No difficulties deserve to be resolved on the cost of deforestation, no difficulties deserve to exchange natural resources for temporary profit, no difficulties deserve to sacrifice ecology to the economic development”. They lay stress on resolving the ecological problems by economical means, Explore to establish a new model in which the restoration and preservation of forestry ecology and forestry ecological economy develop harmoniously in a recourse-oriented city. Among all China’s state-owned forestry zones, they took the lead to conduct property rights reform of forestry industry, and actively promote the radical change of management operating model of state-owned forestry and the lasting preservation of ecological environment. At the same time, we introduced the modern management model in the reform, and was the first among the state-owned forest zones to start the implementation of the “digital forestry” IT management model, besides, we attach importance to guiding the conscious involvement of the public so as to improve both government’s administrative efficiency in preserving forest reserves and protecting ecological environment and its ability of public service. This deep reform of management system and management means enabled us to completely broke away from the outdated conceptions and clashed the restraints of the “state operating the state-owned forestry” singular system, which, working as an advance breakthrough of the systemic problem, helped us find a fundamental way of resolving the deep-level contradiction in the forest zone; it truly touched on the matter of forestry property, and once and for all settled the problems of hollow position of the subject of state ownership in the filed of forestry, and the scarcity of interest subject and responsibility subject in forest cultivation, enhanced the inner impetus to forestry development; it transplanted the market drive in the state-owned forestry field, adjusted and optimized the forestry production relationship, opened up the channels through which various factors of production are put into forestry, as well as liberated the forestry productivity; the application of modern information technology and computer management technology greatly improved government’s administrative efficiency and public service quality, reduced the numbers of the illegal activities doing man-made damage to resource, guaranteed the smoothness and safety of forestry wood production, operation and management, and production circulation, and various other intermediate links, got through the effective channels by which the public involve in and support the forestry development, and found a new way to push the sustainable development of forest zones.

Actors and Stakeholders

 Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
In April, 2004, Yichun was fixed as an experimental unit to conduct the reform of forestry property right system in the state-owned forest zones. On April 29th, 2006, the reform of the property relations of state-owned forest in Yichun was implemented in Wumahe Forest Farm in Wumahe Forestry Bureau, which served as an official prelude to the reform of the property relations of China’s state-owned forest.

(a) Strategies

 Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
 a.      What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
Yichun City, located in the northeastern Heilongjiang Province, China, is one of China’s important state-owned forest zones and a timber production base that was the first to be developed, which also earns it a fame of “land of Korean pines” and “China's forestry capital”. This city covers an administrative area of 33,000 square kilometers, with 4 million hectares of working circle and a population of 1.32 million.
Since its development in 1984, the forest zone in Yichun has followed all along a singular wood production path, with the economic structure solely relying on wood production for a long time, however, from the middle and late 1980s, so many problems appeared such as the radical decreases of exploitable forest resources, the shrinkage of the leading industry, the imbalance of economic development’s dependence on resources, etc. The resource-related, systemic, structural, social, and other contradictions are increasingly prominent, and there appeared an intense clash between cultivating forest and providing maintenance for the people there, existence and development, ecology and economy, management and service, among which the systemic contradiction, which is mainly characterized by the unclarified property of state-owned forest resources, is the main contradiction. The unclarified property led to the scarcity of property subject and responsibility subject of forest resources, government department, forestry industry enterprises and forest employees going their own way, the responsibility for preservation of forest resources being hard to put into effect, forest resources constantly undergone damage; led to the singular main body of investment, narrow investment channel, weakness of investment encouragement, and the seriously inefficiency of input in the state-owned forestry; led to stuff’s severely frustrated enthusiasm for labor, and production relationship badly fettering the development of productivity; led to the scarcity of entrepreneurial impetus of forestry stuff, the singular means of making fortune, the lasting low living standard. The persistent singular state-owned and state-run forestry system bound up the sustained creation of the inner impetus within state-owned forest zones, caused a fragile reproducible ability of forest zone, and was stuck in the vicious circle of “the poorer the people are, the more the trees are cut; the more the trees are cut, the poorer the people become”.

(b) Implementation

 b.      What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
The experimental area of the reform of Yichun state-owned forest ownership system reaches as far as 80,000 hectares, the experiment scope is fixed in 15 forestry centers in five forestry bureaus, with the emphasis on contracting part of the relatively dispersed and scattered state-owned commercial forest that crisscrosses with agricultural areas in shallow mountain areas, and which is easy for decentralized operation to employees’ families for peasant household contract management, and based on the premise of keeping the forest ownership state-owned, the contractors are fully endowed with the ownership, disposal right and earning rights of the trees with a definite period of 50 years. The underlying purpose is by way of reform to change the singular model of state owing and state running the state-owned forest resources, boost the transformation of the management system of forest resources, propel the establishment of new management operating mechanism of forest resources with an combination of centralization and decentralization, promote the sustainable operation of forest resources, lead an all-sided reform of state-owned forest zones, and eventually realize the sustainable development of state-owned forest zones.

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

 c.      What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
Keep led by “five cardinal principles”, actively yet prudently boost the reform of state-owned forest ownership system. First, adhere to the principle of insisting the forestry employees as the main body of contract operation. Stipulate specifically that leaders should not be involved in, and the outer investors are kept out temporarily. Meanwhile, fully take into consideration of forestry employees’ real ability to endure, set up various policies, e.g. the contractors can use the unpaid wages to offset the contracting fees, adopt the way of mortgage by borrowing loans from forestry bureau and repay them after gaining profit, or lay in advance forest for the few who are unwilling to get involved in contracting, so as to ensure that all stuff in the experimental units can take part in the reform. Second, adhere to the principle of ensuring giving priority to ecology, with forest irreversible. Insist on ecological benefit taking priority over all other things, giving consideration of the three benefits as the basic reform orientation. Regard no reversal of forest as a fundamental principle, conduct rational stipulation to the operation deeds and operation objectives of the contracting employees, supervise the implementation of operation program, so as to continuously exert the integral function of forest’ ecological system, at the same time lead the contracting employees to rigorously develop the compound operation of forestry to resolve the current living matters, which further will ensure providing what people lack with what they have the advantage in, and realizing the long-term interests. Third, adhere to the principle of no outflow of the capital earnings gained from reform, a value preservation and increment of state-owned forest assets. Strictly follow the nation stipulation, conduct survey on forest resources, evaluation of state-owned forest assets, and capital management of reform profit, thus, ensure no outflow of state-owned assets. Forth, adhere to the principle of openness,fairness and justice. Strive to live up to the practice of making the whole process known to the public, conducting above-board, treating all employees in the testing forest areas equally without discrimination, definitely playing no tricks of man-made “seating by number” in designing the survey on forest resources and assets evaluation, and insisted on showing to the public all the information about the synthetic information on contracting forest areas, the natural situation of the involved contractors, the result of contracting auction, etc. Fifth, adhere to the principle of active, orderly, and complementary advance. The government has studied and discussed energetically in many aspects, such as the issuing of credentials of forest property rights, operation loans to the contractors, the insurance of forest assets, as well as the after-reform forest resources management, the use of the flowing expenses of contracting, the management of the former non-public forest, the industrial development, and the construction of socialized service system, endeavoring to amplify and perfect a complementary guarantee system of the reform of forest property rights system, and maximally releasing the reform effects.

(d) Use of Resources

 d.      What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
The reform of state-owned forest ownership propelled the radical transformation of the state-owned forestry’s way of management, drove a historical, all-sided and deep change in state-owned forest zone.
First, it brought about a profound change in the state-owned forestry development iteself, enabling the fundamental problem that has hindered the forestry development for a long time to be effectively resolved. Second, it brought about a profound change in the forestry management model, the management level thus was increased greatly. The popularization of the “digital forestry” management model turned out to be a profound change in the history of China’s forestry development. As a conducive exploration of using modern information technology to transform and upgrade the traditional forestry industry enterprises, it has fundamentally increased the economic management level in forest zone, and improved the quality and efficiency of economic operation, and resolved on the whole the forestry industry enterprise’s lagged response to the market changes both at home as well as abroad, accelerated its amalgamation with and integration into international economy, as well as actively and effectively got involved into the home and abroad market competitions, which have exerted great impetus to the establishment of “digital forest zone” and “digital city”, and huge and profound influence to the modernization and digital construction process of China’s forestry industry. Meanwhile, such advanced management means further improved government’s administrative efficiency, promoted the communication between governmental institutions and the populace, enabled the modern forestry management concept to penetrate deep into the minds of the public, and changed it a conscious activity of the public.
Third, it brought about a profound change in the economy of state-owned forest zones, distinctively enhancing the development vigor. One is that the revenue of forestry employees increased by a large scale.

Sustainability and Transferability

  Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
The innovation in management system and management means of state-owned forestry captured the key and crucial problems that hinder the development of state-owned forestry, accorded with the trend of modern forestry development, which is conspicuously a pilot and is demonstrative, worth popularizing and taking advantage of reference for the reform and development of the whole China’s state-owned forestry and state-owned forest zones. In the future, the reform of the property relations of state-owned forest will further expand its experimental range based on the existing 80,000 hectares of experimental area, striving to reach 600,000 hectares in two years, and popularizing the successful reform experience in the nationwide state-owned forest zones. Meanwhile, we will adopt the forms of holding experience exchange meetings, establish sample demonstration and spreading bases of reform, media publicity and buying, so as to widely popularize in China’s state-owned forest zones the application of “digital forestry” and other modern information technology management means, and widely popularize the practice of using modern information technology means to propel the government to improve administrative efficiency and public service capability.

Lessons Learned

 What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
As a forerunner reform experimental unit in state-owned forest zones China, the reform of the property relations of state-owned forest in Yichun has gained much attention from all walks of society for its strategically ecological status, representative forestry front and typical industrial structure, and has been confronted with various problems and barriers for the particularity of the reform targets, people participating being low-level, and the initiativeness of all work. In spite of all these, Yichun municipal government adheres to the five cardinal principles of reform, and, based on the function of public service, it carried out and implemented scientific concepts and advanced technology, advocated and promoted the reform in accordance with law, and reform being upright and incorruptible, thus, ensured reform’s prudent and highly efficient progress. In view of the possible problem of abusing one's power for personal gains, the government stipulates that no leader should get involved in the reform, defined the forestry employees as main body of operation, which prevented the phenomenon of sharing profit with the public; in view of the problems that some poor employees could not afford buying forest, the government established many ways to resolve these problems, for instance, the contractors can use the unpaid wages or fees to offset the contracting payments, adopt the way of mortgage by borrowing loans from forestry bureau and repay them after gaining profit, and coordinate with financial department to provide preferential loans, etc. It also laid aside pieces of lands in advance for those who did not take part in contracting lands, the standard being 10 hectares per household; in view of the fear for the outflow of state-owned assets, the government strictly executed the index system of forest resources assets evaluation and operation rules that are laid down by nation, which guaranteed assets evaluation institution being legal and effective, process scientific and standard, results objective and accurate, it also distributed and utilized reform revenue capital strictly following what the country demands, with administrative and supervisory department being responsible for supervising and guiding the whole process; in view of the possible problems that the contractors cut down trees disorderly, the resources administration department, through scientifically design forest area operation scheme, reinforced its supervision, examination, guiding and stipulate contractors’ operation deeds, at the same time, the government led and supported employees to develop forest-under-economy, avoiding the phenomenon of rush logging, and utterly jumping out of the weird vicious circle of “the poorer the people are, the more the trees are cut; the more the trees are cut, the poorer the people become”.

Contact Information

Institution Name:   Yichun City Government
Institution Type:   Government Agency  
Contact Person:   Jianfeng Qi
Title:   Director general of the Bureau of the Programming  
Telephone/ Fax:   86-045-83969055
Institution's / Project's Website:   86-045-83969721
E-mail:   ycqjf@sina.com  
Address:   Bureau of Programming, Yichun city, Heilongjiang Province
Postal Code:   153000
City:   Yichun
State/Province:   Heilongjiang Province
Country:   China

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