The State Administration for Exit-Entry Inspection and Quarantine Wednesday said that Chinese entry ports had detected more than 250 species of forest pests in logs imported over the past four years, most of them identified simply as "quarantine pests."

A quarantine pest is one that has the potential of damaging the economy of its destination area and is not yet present there, or is present but not widely distributed and under control, according to Wang Yiyu, an official with the state agency.

Based on the pest risk analysis, Wang said Chinese experts had found that the insects carried in foreign logs are "very dangerous" to China's trees, ecological environment and tourism resources.

Already, forest pests have each year affected 80,000 hectares of forests in China, causing direct economic losses of 5 billion yuan (US$602 million), according to the latest State Forestry Administration statistics.

Although the species of foreign forest pests coming into China are few in number, once established in China, the insects, such as long-horned beetles and weevils, could become even more harmful here than in their source countries, partly because they may not have natural enemies in China, according to Wu Jian, an official with the state forestry agency.

For example, the red turpentine beetle alone -- which is suspected to have come into China in the 1980s with imported logs -- has wreaked great havoc in the forests of Shanxi, Hebei and Henan provinces, Wu said.

So far, the pests have victimized over 466,600 hectares of trees in the three provinces, he said.

A huge log consumer, China imported more than 10 million cubic meters of logs in the first nine months of last year, mainly from Southeast Asia, Africa, North America and Europe, according to customs statistics.

As most of the country's forests are susceptible to the entry of pests and diseases, Wu said China has listed stopping the import of untreated logs as a measure to protect the forests.

In the past, lack of explicit phytosanitary measures made it rather difficult for China to treat the logs which were found to be carrying harmful pests, Wang said.

In light of the situation, Wang and Wu's agencies, in collaboration with the customs and the agricultural and foreign trade ministries, Wednesday issued a joint communique, banning import of logs without phytosanitary (pest-free) certificates.

The document, to come into effect July 1, states that quarantine certificates should be presented by the quarantine authorities of the exporting countries or regions, and they should make it clear that the logs carry no quarantine pests or other injurious species or soil as specified in bilateral plant quarantine agreements.

In cases where the logs still carry their bark, the exports should undergo effective treatment, such as fumigation and heat treatment in the source countries or regions, according to the communique.

If the imported logs are still found to be carrying quarantine pests, the importers will be held responsible for the treatment of the logs.

In the worst cases, the imports may be returned to their source countries if the importers fail to treat them, notes the document.

(China Daily 02/08/2001)