Abstract: Germany, known as the European garden state, is built on a natural forest ecosystem. Germany is the world’s pioneer in forestation. It has a set of fully sophisticated forestation policies. To some extent, it represents the most advanced level of forest management and cultivation. On the other hand, Chinese forestry is developing quickly. However, there are some loopholes and shortcomings of the Chinese forestation policies. It is very important for China to learn from the experience of the German forestation policies. This thesis will briefly illustrate the German forestation policies and explore what China may learn from Germany’s experience.
Key words: Germany; forestation policies; China; experience
1. Introduction The German
Forestation policies in Germany In order to ensure the protection and construction of forest and the ecological environment, each state’s government in Germany has established a series of laws and regulations such as the Federal Forest Act, the Federal Environmental Protection Act, the Federal Nature Conservation Act and the Federal Hunting Law. Their guidelines and specific regulations always emphasize the important role of forests in the ecological environment (Guo, 2000).
The ecological protection and construction of forest are a long period of work. The Federal Forest Act, in a sense, processes the highest legal effect. The Federal Forest Act stipulates that ‘protecting and improving the economic sustainability of forests is crucial for climate, soil, air purification, landscape, the agricultural structure and people's recreation. Management of forests needs to be maintained orderly. The interests of the public and forest owners should be well coordinated.’ ‘Without the approval of the state government, forest land can not be converted to other functions. Even if it is permitted, one must build the same area of forest area as compensation. Woodland area can only be increased.’ ‘Harvesting of forest must be less than the amount of growth’ (Wang,
Currently, that department has 950 staff including a Minister, 2 Secretaries of State, 7 councils, and about 80 specialized sections. The major office is located in Bonn. The department mainly has 5 roles. First, it is responsible for setting the overall policy of forestry and monitoring the implementation of the policy. Second, it is in charge of the financial support for forestry. Third, it regulates standards of the provenance and seed. Fourth, it coordinates the work and relation of all forestry departments in each state. Fifth, it leads the exchange with the international