China, Socialism and Deforestation | Communism, Mao, Great Leap Forward, Climate Change, Capitalism

Chairman Mao wanted China to catch up with the West through socialism in terms of industrial production which in hindsight was overly ambitious but instead led to deforestation. His plans involved collective management of forest resources. It included the following. 42% of Chinese forest areas were nationalised and forests owned by rich landlords were confiscated and distributed to farmers in equal shares. Private ownership was effectively no more and replaced by state ownership or collective ownership. But in 1958, all non-state forests were transferred to People’s Communes which were under the control of centralized governing bodies. These bodies were too large, leading to the mass deforestation that occurred during the Great Leap Forward. It didn’t help that prices were fixed by the government even though demand for timber was high. Thus, this excess demand couldn’t be reduced by prices which led to over-cutting, shortages and wastage. Logs were also under-priced, which solved many social objectives but at the cost of 1.1 billion cubic meters of forest products being supplied unsustainably which significantly China’s resources. Wastage was also rampant. Iron and steel were smelted and forests were cut down to fuel 600,000 furnaces and large deforestation, erosion and siltation were needed for hydropower projects. But an estimated 2967 dams built during 1958 to 1961 had collapsed by 1980 and 3 out of 11 million tonnes of steel produced were discarded as they were considered unfit for use. These actions had high carbon emissions yet had little economic returns due to the wastage, which increased carbon intensity greatly. This was because of the Great Leap Forward, the second of China’s Five-Year plans to improve China’s social and economic development. Climate change. Capitalism.
Sources:
China Carbon Intensity Article:
https://ourworldindata.org/chinese-turbulence-how-periods-of-political-reform-affect-the-carbon-intensity-of-economies
Forestry under Mao:
https://blogs.ubc.ca/umbreenbutt/forestry-under-agricultural-policy-1949-to-1976/
Shaun's tweet:
https://twitter.com/shaun_vids/status/1369996383772696578

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