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International Congress on Planted Forests held in China

The fourth International Congress on Planted Forests (ICPF) will be held in Beijing this week, the first time for the conference to be held in Asia. Source: Xinhua

The ICPF is an international academic conference organized by the International Union of Forest Research Organizations with technical support from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Chile and New Zealand held the first and second conference in 1999 and 2003, respectively, while the third was held in countries including France, Ireland and Portugal in 2013.

With “planted forests – a solution for green development” as its theme, this year’s ICPF will cover a wide range of topics including the sustainability of planted forests in the context of a changing climate.

Xiao Wenfa, deputy head of the Chinese Academy of Forestry, said the sustainable development of planted forests has become an important measure of addressing the changing climate.

Planted forests are now expanded both as a source of lumber and an integral part of ecology amid mounting concerns over global climate change, Mr Xiao said.

China is home to the world’s largest planted forests of nearly 70 million hectares, which account for 17% of the country’s total forest reserves, official data showed.