Das Projekt "Scientific support of the Sino-German GTZ program 'Sustainable Management of forests in Western China', in particular the activities of component 2 'Sustainable Forestry'" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Freiburg, Waldbau-Institut durchgeführt. In China, as in many other parts of the world, huge parts of the primary forests already have been destroyed, which has serious economic, environmental and social impacts. In the attempt to diminish these problems and to stimulate a sustainable development of the forest sector, the Chinese government defined a forest policy characterized mainly by two strategic components: (1) investments in afforestation and reforestation and (2) a logging ban for the remaining natural forests. But, although China planted more than 16 Mio ha new forests, there is still a yearly gap of 70 Mio m3 timber and pulpwood. In addition in the rare cases of effective law enforcement, the logging ban provoked significant problems for the forest dependent poor local population. Taken this situation into account, this project has a closer look at a third option, to transform more than 50 Mio ha degraded primary and secondary forests into sustainably managed stands. Their management based on natural dynamic and avoiding large-scale cuts would offer an opportunity to effectively enhance and use their existing production potential, while maintaining biodiversity and protecting environmental resources, such as water which is especially important in many regions of China. Above all, sustainable management of these forests would help to satisfy the demands of the local population especially in remote hilly regions and thus would help to alleviate poverty. The Component 2 of the GTZ Sino-German Program 'Sustainable Management of Forests in Western China' aims at supporting the sustainable development of the forest sector in China taking into view, the maintenance of Chinese natural and planted forests and its economic and social function. The Chinese Academy of Forestry (CAF) is the strategic partner of this component. The Institute of Silviculture will provide scientific support and technical advice to Component 2, in particular through (1) providing advice in strategic and technical questions, (2) doing research on the concept of 'close-to-nature forestry' and by (3) offering possibilities for training.