The forest ecological footprint distribution of Chinese log imports

Since 1998 China has been the world's second major timber importing country, which raised a concern that China may represent a menace to the world's forest resources. In this study, an ecological footprint model is used to measure the forest impact embodied by Chinese log imports from 1995 to 2007. Special attention is given to the ratio of the forest ecological footprint for Chinese log import to the biocapacity of the import origins. Chinese log demand continues to rely more on domestic supplies. Despite that the log import has increased the forest ecological footprint from Europe, those from Oceania and Asia, and Africa were less affected. From the perspective of ecological footprint we find little evidence that Chinese log imports present any serious menace to the world's forest resources. Crown Copyright (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.