Article 34 Local people's governments at all levels shall be responsible for forest fire prevention in their respective administrative areas and bring mass prevention into play; and people's governments at or above the county level shall arrange for and lead emergency management, forestry, public security, and other competent authorities to closely cooperate in prevention, fighting, and disposal of forest fires in a scientific manner in accordance with their respective responsibilities:

(1) Organizing publicity campaigns of forest fire prevention to disseminate knowledge of forest fire prevention;

(2) Designating forest fire prevention zones and prescribing forest fire prevention periods;

(3) Installing fire prevention facilities and setting up firefight equipment and materials;

(4) Establishing forest fire monitoring and early warning system to eliminate hidden risks in a timely manner;

(5) Developing emergency plans for forest fires so as to immediately organize a fire fighting in case a forest fire occurs; and 

(6) Guaranteeing funds required to prevent and fight forest fires. 

The national comprehensive fire prevention and fighting and rescue force shall be responsible for the forest fire fighting and rescue tasks and prevention-related works as prescribed by the State.

Article 35 The competent authorities of forestry of people's governments at or above the county level shall be responsible for the monitoring, quarantine, and prevention and control of forest pests in their respective administrative areas.

The competent authorities of forestry of people's governments at or above the provincial level shall be responsible for the determination of quarantine pests of forest plants and their products, and designating epidemic areas and protected areas.

Local people's governments shall be responsible for the prevention and control of major forestry pest disasters. In the event of an explosive, hazardous, or other major forestry pest disasters, local people's government shall promptly organize the eradication of the disasters.

Forestry managers shall, with the supports and guidance of the government, prevent and control forestry pests within the scope of their management.

Article 36 The State shall protect forest lands, strictly control the conversion of forest lands to non-forest lands, exercise control over the total amount of forest land occupation, so as to ensure that the amount of forest lands is not to decline. The forest lands occupied by various construction projects shall not exceed the quota of total amount of forest land occupation control in the administrative area.

Article 37 Mineral exploration, mining, and other project constructions shall occupy no or minimum forest lands; and where occupying forest lands is indeed necessary, the approval of the competent authorities of forestry of the people's government at or above the county level shall be obtained, and the approval procedures for construction land shall be completed in accordance with law.

Entities occupying forest lands shall pay the fees for forest vegetation restoration. Measures for the administration of the collection and use of forest restoration fees shall be formulated by the finance department of the State Council in conjunction with the competent authority of forestry.

The competent authorities of forestry of people's governments at or above the county level shall arrange afforestation to restore the forest vegetation in accordance with regulations, and the area of afforestation shall be no less than the reduced area due to the occupation of forest lands. Competent authorities of forestry at the higher level shall regularly supervise and urge competent authorities of forestry at the lower level to organize afforestation and forest vegetation restoration, and conduct inspections.

Article 38 Where the temporary use of forest lands is required, the approval of the competent authorities of forestry of the people's government at or above the county level shall be obtained; and the period of temporary use of forest lands shall generally not exceed two years, and no permanent building be constructed on the forest lands in temporary use.

Within one year after the expiration of the temporary use of forest lands, the organization or individual using the lands shall restore the vegetation and forestry production conditions.

Article 39 Deforestation and reclamation, stone quarrying, sand quarrying, soil excavation, and other acts of destructing woods and forest lands are prohibited.

Discharging into forest lands sewage and sludge containing heavy metals or other toxic and hazardous substances in excess of standards and dredged sediment, tailings, slag, and the like that may pollute the forest lands are prohibited.

The harvest of firewood, destruction of seedlings, and grazing in young forest lands are prohibited.

Relocation or destruction of forest protection signs without authorization is prohibited.

Article 40 The State shall protect ancient, famous, rare and precious woods. Destructing ancient, famous, and rare and precious woods and their natural environment is prohibited.

Article 41 The people's governments at all levels shall strengthen the construction of forestry infrastructures and apply advanced and applicable scientific and technological means, so as to improve their capabilities for forest fire prevention, forest pest prevention and control, and other capabilities for forest management and protection.

All relevant organizations shall strengthen forest management and protection. State-owned forestry enterprises and public institutions shall increase investments, strengthen forest fire prevention and forest pest prevention and control, and prevent and stop destruction activities to forest resources.

Chapter V

Afforestation and Land Greening

Article 42 The State shall coordinate urban and rural afforestation and land greening, carry out large-scale land greening campaigns, green and beautify urban and rural areas, promote construction of forest cities, facilitate rural revitalization, and build a beautiful homeland.

Article 43 The people's governments at all levels shall organize all sectors of industry, and urban and rural residents to engage in afforestation and land greening.

State-owned barren hills, lands, and beaches suitable for forests shall be afforested and greened as organized by the competent authorities of forestry and others of the people's governments at or above the county level; while those collective-owned, by collective economic organizations.

For the planned urban areas, both sides of railways and highways,  banks of rivers, and the vicinity of lakes and reservoirs, the relevant competent authorities shall organize afforestation and land greening according to the relevant provisions, in the light of local conditions; and for industrial and mining areas, industrial parks, government agencies, lands for school use, barracks, farms, ranches, and fisheries, the respective organizations shall be responsible for afforestation and land greening. Specific measures for organizing urban afforestation and land greening shall be formulated by the State Council.

State-owned and collective-owned barren hills, lands, and beaches suitable for forests may be afforested and greened by organizations or individuals on a contract basis.

Article 44 The State encourages citizens to participate in afforestation and land greening by planting trees, tending and protecting, funding and donating afforestation and cultivation, or other means.

Article 45 The people's governments at all levels, when organizing afforestation and land greening, shall make scientific plans, adapt to local conditions, optimize the compositions of forest types and species, encourage the use of native tree species and fine breed tree varieties, grow mixed forests, and enhance the quality of afforestation and land greening.

Afforestation and land greening projects invested by the state or mainly invested by the State shall use fine breed tree varieties in accordance with State regulations.

Article 46 The people's governments at all levels shall adopt measures focusing on natural restoration, combining natural restoration with artificial restoration, and scientifically protect and restore forest ecosystems. Newly planted young forests lands and other places where mountain closure is needed, shall be so closed by the local people's governments.

People's governments at all levels shall, in a planned way, organize the restoration of cultivated land to forest or grass for the cultivated land that needs ecological restoration, in the forms of sloping land, heavily desertification land, severely rocky desertification land and heavily polluted land, as determined by the State Council.

The people's governments at all levels shall implement forest ecological restoration projects to restore vegetation in respect of natural factors-induced deserted and damaged mountains, degraded forest lands, and barren hills, lands, and beaches suitable for forests, in light of local conditions.

Chapter VI

Management and Administration

Article 47 The State shall designate, according to the needs for ecological protection, the forest lands and the forests thereon with important ecological location or in ecologically fragile conditions, for the main purpose of ecological benefits, as the public welfare forests. Forest lands and the forests thereon not so designated are commercial forests.

Article 48 The public welfare forests shall be designated and promulgated by the State Council and the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government.

Forest lands and the forests thereon in the following areas shall be designated as public welfare forests:

(1) The catchment areas of the origins of important rivers;

(2) The riverbanks areas of main stream and tributaries of important rivers and drinking water sources reserve areas;

(3) The vicinities of important wetlands and reservoirs;

(4) Nature reserves for forests and terrestrial wildlife;

(5) The backbone forest belts of windbreak and sand-fixation forests in areas subject to severe desertification and soil erosion;

(6) The backbone forest belts of coastal shelterbelt forests;

(7) Undeveloped primeval forest areas; and

(8) Other areas required to be designated.

Where the designation of public welfare forests involves non-state owned forest lands, a written agreement shall be concluded with right holders, with reasonable compensation to the right holders.

Any adjustment to the designation of public welfare forests shall be subject to the approval of the original designating competent authorities, and be publicly announced.

Measures for the designation and administration of public welfare forests at national level shall be formulated by the State Council; and measures for the designation and administration of public welfare forests at local level shall be formulated by the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government.

Article 49 The State shall provide strict protection for the public welfare forests.

The competent authorities of forestry of people's governments at or above the county level shall, in a planned way, arrange public welfare forest managers for adopting forest stand improvement, forest tending, and other measures in relation to low-quality and low-benefit public welfare forests with trivial ecological functions such as sparse forests and defective forests, so as to improve the quality and ecological protection functions of the public welfare forests.

Under the premise of meeting the requirements for the importance of ecological location and not affecting the ecological functions of the public welfare forests, forest land resources and landscape resources of the public welfare forests may, upon scientific justification, be rationally utilized, to moderately develop forest-floor economy and forest tourism. The utilizing of public welfare forests of the above activities shall be in strict accordance with the relevant regulations of the State.

Article 50 The State shall encourage the development of the following commercial forests:

(1) Forests with timber production as the main purpose;

(2) Forests for the main purpose of forest produce, including fruits, oils, beverages, food ingredients, industrial raw materials, medicines;

(3) Forests with production of fuels and other biomass energy as the main purpose; and

(4) Other forests with economic benefits as the main purpose.

The State, under the premise of ensuring ecological security, shall encourage the development of timber forests of fast-growing and high-yield, precious species and large-diameter trees so as to increase timber reserves and ensure the security of timber supply.

Article 51 Commercial forests shall be independently managed by forest managers in accordance with law. On the premise of not damaging the ecology, intensive management measures may be taken for the rational utilization of forests, woods and forest lands and the improvement of the economic benefits of commercial forests. 

Article 52 For the construction of any of the following engineering facilities providing direct serves for forestry production and management on forest lands, where the standards required by the relevant competent authorities of State are met, the approval of the competent authorities of forestry of the people's government at or above the county level shall be obtained, and the approval procedures for construction land are waived; and where forest lands are occupied in excess of the standards, the approval procedures for construction land shall be completed in accordance with law:

(1) Facilities for the breeding or production of seeds or nursery stock;

(2) Facilities for the storage of seeds, nursery stock, or timbers;

(3) Skidding trails, logging trails, fire break patrol trails, and forest trails;

(4) Facilities for forestry scientific research and popular science education;

(5) Facilities for wild fauna and flora protection, forest protection, prevention and control of forest pests, forest fire prevention, and timber quarantine;

(6) infrastructures of supplying water, power, heat and gas, and of communication; and

(7) Other engineering facilities providing direct serves for forestry production.

Article 53 State-owned forestry enterprises and public institutions shall prepare forest management plans, specify measures for the cultivation, management, and protection of forests, and implement the measures with the approval of the competent authorities of forestry of people's governments at or above the county level. The forest management plans for key forest areas shall be implemented with the approval of the competent authority of forestry of the State Council.

The State shall support and guide other forest managers on preparing forest management plans.

Specific measures for the preparation of forest management plans shall be formulated by the competent authority of forestry of the State Council.

Article 54 The state shall strictly control annual quota of forest felling. The competent authorities of forestry of people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall prepare annual felling quotas for their respective administrative areas based on the principles of consumption lower than growth and of management and administration by forest categories, solicit comments from the competent authorities of forestry of the State Council, announce publicly and implement the quotas upon the approval by the people's governments at the same level, and submit the quotas to the State Council for the record. The annual felling quotas for the key forest areas shall be prepared by the competent authority of forestry of the State Council, and announced publicly and implemented upon the approval of the State Council.

Article 55 Felling of forests and woods shall be in accordance with the following provisions:

(1) Public welfare forests may be felled only for tending, regeneration, and improvement of low-quality and low-benefit forests. Exceptionally, public welfare forests may be felled for the purposes of scientific researches or experiments, prevention and control of forest pests, construction of forest fire prevention facilities, construction of biological firebreaks, and natural disasters, among others.

(2) For commercial forests, different felling methods shall be adopted based on different circumstances, the area of clear-cutting shall be strictly controlled, and felling and tending shall be concurrently planned and implemented.

(3) The felling of woods in nature reserves shall be prohibited. An exception is made for woods that must be felled because of special circumstances such as prevention and control of forest pests, forest fire prevention, maintenance of the living environment of main protected objects, and under natural disasters, and for bamboo forests that are located in experimental zones.

The competent authorities of forestry of people's governments at or above the provincial level shall formulate corresponding technical protocols on tree felling, in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph, in the light of principles such as management and administration by forest categories, prioritizing protection, and emphasis on efficiency and benefits, among others.

Article 56 For the felling of the woods on forest lands, a felling license shall be applied for, and the felling shall be conducted in accordance with the specifications of the felling license; and for the felling of bamboo forests outside nature reserves, a felling license is not required, but the technical protocols on tree felling shall be met.

Rural residents that are to fell the scattered trees on plots of cropland allotted for private use and at house sides, are not required to apply for a felling license.

The regeneration felling of farmland protection forests, windbreak and sand fixation forests, road protection forests, riverbank and dike protection forests, and urban forests, among others, on non-forest lands shall be administrated by relevant competent authorities in accordance with relevant provisions.

Digging and transplantation of woods shall be administrated as the felling of woods. Specific measures shall be formulated by the competent authority of forestry of the State Council.

Forging, altering, trading, and leasing felling licenses are prohibited.