Statutory measures for the protection and enhancement of the urban forest in Guangzhou City, China

Urban-forestry management in China, due to its unique political and social environment, exists in a different legislative and administrative regime. A n evaluation of the current statutory and quasi-statutory administrative in struments can throw light on the status and prospects of the country's urba n-forestry programme. Guangzhou City, the largest municipality in South Chi na, with a high green cover, was chosen for a case study. The assessment in cludes measures with a bearing on the planning, development, management and protection of urban trees and urban landscapes, at the national, provincia l and municipal levels. Four national laws accompany a plethora of administ rative documents to define an overall urban-forestry framework, and to dema rcate the relevant authority and responsibility at different planes of the government hierarchy. The provincial measures play a secondary role in fill ing some gaps in the national legislation, with the main contributions bein g in allocating financial responsibilities and laying down punitive and com pensatory legal procedures. Operations-related measures have been developed comprehensively at the municipal level with practical guidelines for their implementation. Special issues related to weaknesses, room for improvement , and general implications for Guangzhou and other cities are discussed. Th e lack of clearly defined enforcement agents and generally lax enforcement have weakened the otherwise quite comprehensive legislative measures. The w idespread illegal use of urban parks for commercial and other activities by government departments has undermined statutory integrity. The continued d estruction of trees due largely to government projects signifies that the r elevant laws are widely disregarded and ignored by civil servants. The lega l vacuum of liability related to hazardous trees needs to be promptly fille d. The overwhelming domination of the government with negligible participat ion by citizens contrasts vividly with urban forestry in other countries an d deprives the programme of the necessary popular support.