If every Chinese saved one tree ...

Seven years ago, China was hit by disastrous floods. The government responded by banning logging, which was blamed for stripping trees from forests and mountain watersheds, speeding the flow of rainwater from higher ground into the Yangtze and other rivers. This rapid runoff caused soil erosion which, in turn, intensified silt deposits and made the river channels shallower.

The government also expanded its reforestation programmes and offered incentives to restore tree cover in areas prone to erosion. China's forest management policies are increasingly responsible at home. But what about abroad?

Domestic wood production in the world's most populous nation has been declining since 1995. But demand for forest products - everything from wood for housing to pulp for paper and packaging - is rising fast as China's economy continues its turbocharged growth.

In 2003, China produced an estimated 79 million cubic metres of wood for industrial use. However, it imported an additional 94 million cubic metres of forest products, including both wood and pulp and paper imports. It is now the second-biggest forest-products consumer after the United States. Even so, per capita consumption of timber in China is still small compared to industrialised countries. The average citizen of the US and Japan uses 17 times and six times more wood, respectively, than the typical mainlander.

It is precisely this lag and the potential for Chinese demand to explode that worry environmental activists. They are also concerned at the impact that this is already starting to have on some major timber-producing countries in Asia that are leading suppliers to China but are unwilling or unable to protect their forests.

A recent report on China's wood trade and its environmental impact, published by the world conservation body WWF, said that much of the timber imported by China was sourced from countries that lack sound forest management and controls. Russia, Indonesia and Malaysia supply more than half of China's wood imports. Other suppliers include Papua New Guinea, Myanmar and Gabon in West Africa.