The forest sector in China: towards a market economy.

China covers an area of 9.6 mill, km2, accounting for 7% of the total land area of the globe. The landmass consists of mountainous areas (33%), high plateau (26%), basins (19%), hills (10%) and flat lowlands (12%). The climate ranges from humid in the east to arid deserts in the west, and from boreal in the north to tropical in the south. China had more than 1.2 bill. people in 1995, with about 30% of the population living in urban areas. The natural growth rate of the population was 1.06% in 1995. The “One child couple” policy is still used to ensure that the country’s population is held below 1.3 bill. by the end of this century.