President Hu Jintao pointed out at the First APEC Forestry Ministerial Meeting: "We must tap the potential of forestry, develop biomass energy, and safeguard energy security." This is a new requirement put forward by the Party Central Committee for China's forestry development under the new situation, and a new mission entrusted to forestry by economic and social development in the new era. Forestry must not only ensure China's ecological security but also make greater contributions to safeguarding energy security.
I. The Great Strategic Significance of Developing Biomass Energy
In studying President Hu Jintao's important speech, we must fully recognize that developing biomass energy has great strategic significance for safeguarding China's energy security and promoting sustainable economic and social development.
(1) Developing biomass energy is an urgent need for safeguarding energy security. Since entering the new century, China's economy and society have undergone major and profound changes. Industrialization and urbanization are advancing rapidly, economic aggregate is growing swiftly, comprehensive national strength is increasingly strengthening, people's living standards are notably improving, and demand for grain, edible vegetable oil, and energy shows rigid continuous growth. The supply-demand contradiction for grain, oil, and energy is becoming increasingly prominent, with high external dependence, all exceeding safety warning lines.
(2) Developing biomass energy is a strategic choice for promoting green growth. President Hu Jintao pointed out at the First APEC Forestry Ministerial Meeting: "Forests are important and unique strategic resources, being renewable, diverse, and multifunctional, bearing ecological industries with enormous potential, recyclable forest products industries, and richly contented bio-industries." Forests are important biomass energy. In terms of energy equivalent, they are the fourth largest energy source after coal, oil, and natural gas. Bio-fuel oil contains no sulfur and does not cause acid rain, making it a green, clean, renewable, and environmentally friendly energy source. China is in a historical period of the sharpest contradiction between economic development and natural resource supply, with natural resources and ecological environment near their limit in supporting 1.3 billion people and China's rapid economic and social development. Facing increasingly intense resource and environmental constraints, the country is vigorously promoting strategic adjustment of economic structure and transformation of development mode. Forestry, as a composite of circular economy, green economy, and low carbon economy, has unique advantages in promoting green growth and is a strategic choice for achieving and promoting green growth.
(3) Developing biomass energy is an effective way to promote farmers' employment and income growth. China's mountainous areas account for 69% of the total land area, and mountain area population accounts for 56% of the national total population. These areas have relatively concentrated poor populations, relatively lagging economic and social development, and very prominent livelihood issues. China's rural labor resources are particularly abundant, and the employment situation is quite severe. Relying on abundant forest land resources and forest resources in mountainous areas, fully tapping forest land potential, and vigorously promoting the development of woody grain and oil and biomass energy industries can provide large numbers of employment opportunities for farmers. This is of great significance for adjusting rural industrial structure, accelerating mountain area economic development, alleviating rural social employment contradictions, and promoting farmers' income growth.
(4) Developing biomass energy is an important measure for promoting the transformation of forestry development mode. Adhering to scientific development and accelerating the transformation of development mode is a major choice and necessary path that determines the future and destiny of China's modernization. From the perspective of the phased characteristics of China's forestry development, there is an urgent need to accelerate the transformation of development mode, from extensive growth to quality-and-efficiency-oriented development, from single-function-oriented to multi-function forestry development. Promoting the scientific development of woody grain and oil and biomass energy industries is conducive to improving per-unit-area forest land output rates, continuously elevating development levels, enabling farmers to deeply feel the development prospects, obtain tangible benefits, consciously engage in the practice of modern forestry construction, and further promote the transformation of forestry development mode.
II. The Enormous Potential of Developing Biomass Energy
In studying President Hu Jintao's important speech, we must further recognize the enormous potential of developing biomass energy and strive to improve and optimize China's food and energy structure.
(1) Enormous resource potential. Biomass energy is an important component of China's forestry resources. The nationwide main woody grain and oil tree species planting area is about 143 million mu. There are 200 types of woody oil-bearing tree species and 100 types of woody grain tree species, with nearly 100 high-oil-content tree species suitable for large-scale biomass energy cultivation. China also has over 44 million hectares of suitable barren hills and wastelands and nearly 100 million hectares of saline-alkali land, sandy land, and mine reclamation land and other marginal land resources, a large portion of which can be used to develop woody grain and oil and biomass energy. This not only holds enormous potential for developing woody grain and oil and biomass energy, but also has the characteristic and advantage of not competing with agriculture for land and not competing with people for food.
(2) Broad market prospects. With the improvement of people's living standards and the upgrading of consumption structure, demand for nutrition and health is increasingly vigorous. Woody oil crops such as camellia oleifera and walnut, as well as woody grains such as chestnut and jujube, with their green and healthy superior quality, increasingly win people's favor, becoming high-grade foods for improving dietary structure and enhancing health levels. The global energy supply-demand balance is fragile, oil market fluctuations are frequent, international oil prices remain high, and supply-demand contradictions will persist long-term. Against the backdrop of global climate change response, biomass energy, with its renewable, environmentally friendly, and low carbon advantages, has become a focus of new energy development in various countries. According to UN Food and Agriculture Organization research, by mid-century, biomass energy will account for over 50% of global total energy consumption. Biodiesel development, wood solid molding fuel processing, wood fuel power generation and other development and utilization technologies have been preliminarily established, and the broad application prospects of biomass energy are increasingly prominent.
(3) Considerable production capacity. According to predictions, by 2020 China's per capita annual consumption of edible vegetable oil will reach 20 kg, with total annual consumption reaching over 29 million tons. According to the "National Camellia Oleifera Industry Development Plan," by 2020 the camellia oleifera forest base area will reach 70 million mu, and after newly planted camellia forests enter the high-yield period, tea oil production will reach 2.5 million tons, accounting for 8% of total annual consumption. If self-sufficiency rate improves to 50% by then, tea oil production alone could account for 17% of total domestic vegetable oil production. From the perspective of biomass energy industry development, technologies for converting Jatropha curcas, Pistacia chinensis, and Cornus wilsoniana seeds into biodiesel are relatively mature. Biomass power generation using branch wood and shrub stubble materials as main raw materials is developing rapidly, and some achievements have been made in the R&D and production of wood biomass molding fuel. China has over 350 million tons of forest logging and wood processing waste available for energy utilization annually. If fully utilized, this could replace approximately 230 million tons of standard coal. The existing seven woody oil energy tree species' fruits can process over 400,000 tons of biodiesel. Recently, aircraft test flights using Chinese bio-aviation fuel have succeeded. There are also large amounts of woody starch resources usable for fuel ethanol production. Vigorously promoting biomass energy forest cultivation on existing foundations, relying on scientific and technological progress, and improving conversion and utilization rates will greatly improve China's energy structure and reduce dependence on fossil energy.
III. Main Measures for Developing Biomass Energy
In studying President Hu Jintao's important speech, the key is to earnestly implement and strive to promote the scientific and orderly development of the biomass energy industry.
(1) Scientific planning and layout. In 2009, the State Council approved the "National Camellia Oleifera Industry Development Plan." The State Forestry Administration and forestry departments at all levels in camellia production areas have conscientiously implemented the Plan, achieving breakthrough progress in camellia industry development. Recently, the focus of woody edible oil is on camellia oleifera and walnut, while also accelerating development research on Amygdalus pedunculata in northern regions. Currently, the State Forestry Administration is organizing the compilation of the "National Forestry Biomass Energy Development Plan," striving to follow natural and economic laws, deeply study major issues, identify weak links and prominent contradictions, optimize development layout according to local conditions, enhance the plan's strategic, guiding, and targeted nature, scientifically set development goals, systematically plan key tasks and major measures, and effectively enhance the plan's implementability and operability.
(2) Accelerate improved variety selection and breeding. Improved varieties are the foundation and prerequisite for efficient forestry development. Currently, the promotion of improved variety selection and breeding remains a weak link. We must closely focus on the demand for superior varieties and strong seedlings for woody grain and oil and biomass energy industry development, strengthen scientific and technological support, arrange major scientific research topics, organize research breakthroughs, vigorously carry out forest improved variety selection and breeding, and quickly cultivate a batch of high-yield, high-quality superior varieties. Strengthen the improved variety promotion system, formulate scientifically sound technical standards and procedures, develop more diverse new products that meet market demand, and provide reliable technical support for elevating the overall level of industrial development and improving comprehensive economic benefits.
(3) Innovate development mechanisms. Following the laws and requirements of modern industrial development, adhere to leading enterprise-driven approaches, encourage and support business forms such as "company + base + farmer" and "company + professional cooperative organization + farmer," take the path of large-scale and intensive development, implement varietal cultivation, large-scale production, standardized management, and intensive operation, improve the socialization and organization levels of woody grain and oil and biomass energy industry development, achieve effective connections between thousands of households and the ever-changing market, enhance the ability to withstand natural risks and market risks, focus on innovating cooperation models, and strive to improve scale benefits.
(4) Strengthen policy support. The biomass energy industry covers multiple fields including planting, processing, and sales, with long industrial chains and wide coverage. Particularly, the initial investment for industrial development is large, requiring increased support in four areas. First, integrate existing funding channels and improve fund utilization efficiency. For example, integrate project afforestation funds, central fiscal forest tending subsidies, afforestation subsidies, forest improved variety subsidies, and agricultural comprehensive development funds, vigorously promote woody grain and oil and energy forest development according to Plan requirements, strengthen tending and transformation of existing forests. In 2010, the Ministry of Finance and various localities integrated over 4 billion yuan of agriculture-related funds with very good results. Second, strive to secure and expand special fund scales to support woody oil and energy forest development, especially further increasing camellia oleifera funding from the current annual 200 million yuan basis. Third, encourage and guide social capital into woody grain and oil and biomass energy industry fields, establish enterprise raw material forest bases, provide capital and policy support to enterprises, improve the scale and organization level of industrial development, and accelerate the elevation of industrialization levels. Fourth, encourage financial capital entry, actively strive to make woody grain and oil and biomass energy industry development a key focus of forestry discounted loan support, increase loan discount intensity, improve discount policies; encourage financial institutions to develop various credit and financing services suitable for industry characteristics.
