A total of 420,000 hectares of forest under the administration of the Baihe Forest Bureau of Jilin Province and the Youhao Forest Bureau of Heilongjiang Province in northeast China passed certification appraisal by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) on Wednesday.

This means that timbers harvested by the two organizations have been given a green pass to be exported to international markets.

To conduct forest certification is a step by China to merge into international forestry management. This will help bring the country's forests into a track of sustainable development, said Zhang Songdan, vice-director of the Forestry Resources Supervision and Management Office of the State Forestry Administration.

China has seen rapid export growth of forestry products in recent years, mostly to European and American markets. Without forest certification, our export-oriented timber processing enterprises may face the risk of gradually losing market share in these regions.

It takes two years to complete the certification appraisal under the two bureaus, with certificated areas of 240,000 and 180,000 hectares respectively.

By People's Daily Online