9 January 2011, China Green Times - China National Conference for Directors of Provincial Forestry Departments was held in Beijing on 5-6 January 2011. The conference comprehensively summed up the forestry development in the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" period, identified the forest sector development strategy in the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" period, and arranged major tasks in 2011.

Mr. Jia Zhibang, Director-General of the State Forestry Administration, said that, during the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" period, significant achievements have been made in forestry reform. First, the collective forest tenure system reform has achieved significantly, stimulating forestry and rural development. Secondly, ecological construction and protection have been all-around enhanced, and the framework of national ecological security has basically formed. Thirdly, forestry industry has developed robustly, two large consecutive levels up, and China has grown into a great power in terms of forest products production and trade. Fourthly, the ecological & cultural system has been developed in full swing, and the concept of ecological civilization has been established in the whole society. Fifthly, significant results have been achieved in emergency response of forestry sector, and disaster prevention and mitigation capabilities have been significantly improved. Sixthly, forestry sector have been more open to the world, with significantly enhanced international influence. Seventhly, a series of policies strengthening forestry development have been developed, providing a strong guarantee for strengthening forestry development and increasing farmers’ wealth. Eighthly, forestry infrastructure construction has substantially progressed, and the capability of sustainable development has been markedly increased.

Mr. Jia Zhibang pointed out that, in the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" period, the focus should be put on the building of "ten ecological barriers" and the accelerated development of "Ten Leading Industries". It is envisioned that, by 2015, the forest coverage is expected to hit 21.66%, the forest stock volume to reach 14.3 billion cubic meters, forestland area to be 309 million hectares, the total carbon storage of forest vegetation to amount to 8.4 billion tons, and the forestry output value to rise to 3.5 trillion RMB, and the ecological civilization is fully accepted and implemented, in order to lay a solid foundation for achieveing a sound ecological environment in 2020.

The conference is an important conference to comprehensively review the forestry development in the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" period, and thoroughly plan the work for forestry sector in the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" period. At the conference local authorities and enterprises were urged to earnestly implement the work planned.