Field visit to a forest restoration site in Ningxia @Zeng Nan

China has placed significant emphasis on the protection and restoration of forests over the past two decades. Nevertheless, droughts, pests and diseases, and wildfires exacerbated by climate change poses a severe threat to forest biodiversity and their ability to adapt to climate change. 

To help address the issue, NRDC is working with the Ecology and Nature Conservation Institute of Chinese Academy of Forestry to conduct a research project on biodiversity and climate-friendly paths for forest restoration. As part of the project, NRDC co-hosted the International Workshop on Biodiversity and Climate Friendly Forest Restoration on September 12-14 in Guyuan, Ningxia Autonomous Region. The workshop invited experts from Germany, Australia, the United States, and Canada to exchange views and ideas on latest science and policy development, as well as the best practices, with about 100 Chinese experts from all over the country. 

The preliminary findings of the research were presented at the workshop. The experts agreed that the top-level strategy for forest restoration needs to be updated in line with the carbon neutral targets, Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, and the climate adaptation strategies. The experts also noted that there is a big gap between national plans and on-the-ground implementation, and that forestry practitioners at subnational levels need more hands-on guidelines and capacity building. NRDC will work with partners to address key barriers of forest restoration and to promote climate and biodiversity synergy.