State Forestry Administration Presses Ahead with the New Round of Sloping Land Conversion Program

On May 8, the State Forestry Administration held a video scheduling meeting on the Sloping Land Conversion Program. Zhang Yongli, Deputy Director of the State Forestry Administration, attended the meeting and delivered a speech. He required pressing ahead despite difficulties and innovating methods to fully carry out the current Sloping Land Conversion Program work and consolidate its achievements. Feng Jiaping, Chief Engineer of the State Forestry Administration, presided over the meeting.

Zhang Yongli said that doing a good job in the new round of the Sloping Land Conversion Program is of great importance, and it is necessary to further deepen the understanding of the importance of the Sloping Land Conversion Program work, and start from 3 aspects to fully carry out the Sloping Land Conversion Program work. First, promptly complete the 2014 Sloping Land Conversion Program planned tasks. Track and schedule the task completion situation of each county and city in a timely manner; for counties and cities with many existing problems and still slow implementation progress, personnel must be sent to the sites to strengthen supervision. Work methods must be innovated and timely reports must be made to the main leaders. Great importance must be attached to the quality of the Sloping Land Conversion Program, operation designs must be done well in combination with farmers' wishes, and work such as technical training for the Sloping Land Conversion Program must be strengthened. Second, promptly do a good job in all preparatory work for implementing the 2015 Sloping Land Conversion Program tasks. In 2015, the country arranged 10 million mu of Sloping Land Conversion Program and grassland conversion tasks, including 9.4 million mu of forest conversion and 600,000 mu of grassland conversion. All localities must actively take action and promptly implement the 2015 tasks down to the farmer households and hill plots. Do a good job in operation design and contract signing, seize the afforestation opportunities in the rainy season and autumn and winter, and promptly organize the implementation of the 2015 Sloping Land Conversion Program tasks. Third, promptly compile and submit provincial implementation plans. For provinces that have not compiled and submitted provincial implementation plans, all localities must be organized to promptly compile plans and arrange and implement the tasks for each future year. For those that have submitted provincial implementation plans but have not implemented them onto the current land use status maps and hill plots, relevant departments must also be coordinated to re-implement them.

Zhang Yongli put forward 6 requirements for further consolidating the achievements of the Sloping Land Conversion Program: First, based on the results of joint supervision of the implementation of the special plan for consolidating achievements, guide all localities to promptly study and solve problems existing in project construction, and strive to do a good job in the concluding work of implementing the special plan for consolidating achievements; second, effectively carry out rectification of prominent problems in stage acceptance; third, sort out the situation and existing problems of confirming and issuing certificates for the previous round of the Sloping Land Conversion Program, and propose specific solutions; fourth, promptly include Sloping Land Conversion Program land that meets national and local public welfare forest zoning and definition standards into central and local forest ecological benefit compensation respectively; fifth, gradually include the Sloping Land Conversion Program into the existing forest tending subsidy scope, and continuously improve the quality and benefits of the Sloping Land Conversion Program. Sixth, discipline must be strictly enforced, and problems such as destroying the achievements of the Sloping Land Conversion Program and destroying forests for reclamation in individual localities must be severely investigated and dealt with.

At the meeting, Hubei, Hunan, Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Guangxi, Gansu, Shaanxi, Shanxi, 10 provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities) and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps reported on the implementation of the 2014 Sloping Land Conversion Program and preparations for work in 2015.