Revitalizing Collective Forestry Management Rights Requires a Solid Foundation of Rights Confirmation and Certification
Reform of the collective forest rights system is an important part of rural reform and a significant measure for advancing ecological civilization construction and promoting resource growth, a sound ecology, higher farmer incomes and harmony in forest areas. Practice has proven that taking the revitalization of collective forest land management rights as a breakthrough point helps promote appropriately scaled concentration of forest land, advance industrialized forestry management, ensure ecological security and provide abundant forest products, promote the exchange of urban and rural factors and boost integrated urban-rural development, and further stimulate the vitality of forestry development.
Solidify the foundation of rights confirmation and certification
A forest rights certificate is an important property document for forestry operators, and the confirmation of rights over forest land and trees must issue an “ironclad proof.” The main tasks of deepening reform of the collective forest rights system are to revitalize management rights, implement disposal rights and safeguard income rights, and to implement forest land contracting management rights and tree ownership to farming households through household contracting in accordance with the law, establishing farmers' principal status as holders of forest land contracting management rights. In conjunction with reform of the rural property rights system, it is necessary to promote “simultaneous confirmation of multiple rights,” further improve the confirmation and certification of collective forest rights, intensify mediation of forest rights disputes, and ensure the confirmation of “real rights” and the issuance of “ironclad proof.”
In issuing “ironclad proof” to forestry operators, three key aspects should be well handled. First, persist in on-site surveys, with clear boundaries and accurate figures, so that rights and certificates match. Second, mediate forest rights disputes in accordance with the law, resolve longstanding issues in an orderly manner, support parties in bringing disputes involving legal proceedings into the judicial track, and remove the uncertain status of forest rights as soon as possible. Third, strengthen the management of forest rights archives, properly preserve historical materials, and ensure that the source of forest rights has a basis and evidence and can stand the test of history. The Interim Regulations on Real Estate Registration have already been implemented, and relevant policy linkages should be made well to ensure that the interests of collective forest rights owners and operators are not affected.
Adhere to the direction of appropriately scaled management
Transfer is an important means of scaled forest land management. Advancing forest rights transfer should adhere to the principles of “lawfulness, voluntariness and compensation.” Forest rights transfer has many forms, including transfer, lease, subcontracting, shareholding and exchange. The form and price of transfer must respect farmers' wishes, and administrative orders must not be used. Local governments and industry authorities should proceed from reality, actively explore price evaluation mechanisms for forest land and trees and a minimum protective price system for forest rights transfer, and guide farmers to transfer through open rural property rights markets. It is necessary to persist in handling matters according to transfer procedures, earnestly implement transfer registration, filing and review systems, and actively coordinate and properly handle problems of excessively long early forest rights transfer terms, excessively low prices and excessively large areas. It is necessary to strengthen oversight of the transfer of collectively and uniformly managed forest land, strictly implement the public announcement system, the villagers' assembly voting system and the township approval system, and strictly prevent backroom operations. It is necessary to adhere to taking forestry as the main focus and appropriate scale, and forest land nature and forest land use must not be changed at will.
Scaled forest land management must take into account the interests of all parties. Whichever form of transfer is adopted, attention must be paid to safeguarding farmers' interests, while also safeguarding the interests of other forest land operators, establishing a balance of interests between both sides and forming a stable interest alliance. It is necessary to support urban industrial and commercial capital in entering rural areas to develop modern forestry planting and breeding industries, increase publicity of forest-benefiting policies and the value of forest rights, guide forest farmers to transfer forest land through shareholding, cooperation and exchange, and establish close interest linkage mechanisms.
Strengthen new types of forestry management entities
At present, the new types of forestry management entities explored and developed in various places mainly include four types: specialized large households, farmers' cooperatives, family forest farms and forestry enterprises. Specialized large households have great room for development and need continued support for development. Cooperative management is the most direct and effective way to organize farmers, drive farmers and enrich farmers, and support for it needs to be increased, but problems such as “shell cooperatives,” irregular operation and a lack of professional management talent need to be solved. Family forest farms are a vital force leading appropriately scaled management and developing modern forestry, and certification standards and management measures for family forest farms should be studied and issued and included in the scope of support policies for agriculture. Leading enterprises in forestry industrialization both strengthen the industry and drive farmers, and forestry enterprises should be guided to build bases, bring along farmers and extend into areas such as forestry infrastructure construction.
Innovate forestry management methods. Typical management models include: cooperative + base + farmers, leading enterprise + cooperative + farmers + base, leading enterprise + joint cooperative + farmers, cooperative + family forest farm + farmers + base, large park + small business owners, and farmers' industrial parks, and so on. Innovation in various management models ultimately means organizing the thousands upon thousands of households to connect with the ever-changing large market, so that farmers benefit more in scaled management. Practices such as base-price transfer and guaranteed minimum benefits should be promoted so that farmers benefit directly. Practices such as profit rebates and revenue sharing should be promoted so that farmers benefit fully. Practices such as the shareholding system and shareholding cooperation + guaranteed dividends should be promoted so that farmers benefit continuously.
Improve the collective forestry support and service system
As new types of forestry management entities increase, it is necessary to build a diversified, specialized and market-oriented forestry support and service system suited to them. Forestry support services have both commercial and public-welfare characteristics, and it is necessary both to give play to the government's role and to mobilize social forces.
Improve the fiscal and tax support system. Increase public financial support for forestry, improve relevant subsidy and allowance policies, encourage county-level interest subsidies for small forestry-related loans to forest farmers, and integrate agriculture-related funds to improve the infrastructure of forestry industry bases. Implement support policies for leading forestry enterprises and key specialized cooperatives, reduce or exempt taxes and fees for new types of forestry management entities, and gradually lower the collection ratio of the forest cultivation fund.
Improve the production service system. Build a forestry science and technology innovation and technology extension system, encourage scientific and technical personnel from universities and institutes to take equity stakes with scientific and technological achievements and to start businesses while holding concurrent posts and receiving concurrent pay, and solve the “last kilometer” problem in forestry science and technology services. Simplify logging approval procedures, implement the logging public announcement system, and safeguard forest farmers' equal logging rights. Encourage the preparation of forest management plans by forestry cooperative management organizations or shareholding forest farms as units, improve logging and transport management, and grant forest farmers full management and disposal rights.
Improve the financial service system. Promote physical quantity assessment of forest resource assets, realize the separation of assessment quantity and price, develop forestry credit products, carry out small loans and joint guarantee loans for forest farmers, and enhance forestry financing capacity. Strengthen policy-based forest insurance, improve links such as insurance application, loss assessment and claims settlement, scientifically adjust insurance terms, and fully safeguard forest farmers' rights and interests. Implement the “no-claim bonus” policy and the method of collective insurance by specialized cooperative organizations, and insurance companies should allocate a certain amount of funds for forest disaster prevention.
Improve the market service system. Strengthen the collective forest rights transfer service platform and team building, and strengthen forest rights transfer services. County-level forestry administrative departments and township people's governments should in principle establish forest rights transfer information databases and, relying on forest rights management service centers, establish information release platforms to release transfer information in real time.