Chinese investment in Africa is substantial and growing. The country’s investment and trade in Africa’s natural resource sectors have significant implications for African forests. More than 75 per cent of African timber exports go to China – in Mozambique, for example, the share is over 90 per cent.
IIED’s China-Africa Forest Governance Project is dedicated to improving evidence, capacity and joint action for sustainable Chinese investment in Africa’s forests. Since 2014, this project has created opportunities for improving policy, Chinese company practices, community benefits, and sustainable land use in Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Mozambique and Uganda. The work of the project’s Chinese partners – the Research Institute of Forestry Policy and Information at the Chinese Academy of Forestry (CAF) and Global Environmental Institute (GEI) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) – has made significant progress in key areas, such as raising awareness among Chinese stakeholders of the need for a legal and sustainable timber trade, increasing dialogue and exchange opportunities between China and Africa, and bringing on board the Chinese private sector through innovative means to promote sustainable timber trade and other land-use investments.
Towards Legal and Sustainable Investments by China in Africa’s Forests: Steps taken by Chinese organisations and the path ahead summarises this progress, shares insights from these experiences into the state of China’s role in African forest governance and provides suggestions for the next steps in the China-Africa relationship.