China contains a variety of forest types . Both the northeast and northwest reaches contain mountains and cold coniferous forests , supporting animal species which include moose and Asiatic black bear, along with 120 types of of birds. Moist conifer forests can have thickets of bamboo as an understorey, replaced by rhododendrons in higher montane stands of juniper and yew. Subtropical forests dominate central and southern China. They support an astounding 146,000 species of flora, as well as the famous giant panda, golden monkey, and South China tiger. In addition, tropical rainforests and seasonal rainforests in Yunnan and Hainan Island contain a quarter of China's total number of species.

The extent of deforestation over the last half-century has had massive consequences - most recently blamed for the extent of the appalling flooding through the Yangzi Basin during the late 1990s. China currently suffers from dramatically increased desertification in the north and west, faces water shortages over the entire country and has a forestry sector which is dramatically over-employed. Yet, although logging continues at a frightening rate, China's overall forest cover has risen from a low of about eight percent in the early 1970s to the current level of almost fourteen percent. This increase has been brought about by the "Green Great Wall" campaign and associated reaforestation efforts, currently focused at the upper reaches of major river systems such as the Yangzi, Yellow and Liao rivers, while anti-desertification projects focus on north-central China in Ningxia and Inner Mongolia. Sadly, the biological value of these replanted forests is far lower than that of the natural forests they replace. Replanted forest can provide timber for industrial and household use, but it does not adequately replace the role of natural forests in protecting soil, retaining water or supporting wildlife.

The biggest problem faced by China's forest sector is the difficulty of finding alternative employment for hundreds of thousands of loggers when the establishment of nature reserves or diminishing forest areas requires that tree cutting be stopped. Nowhere is this more urgent than in giant panda habitat . Giant pandas require vast quantities of bamboo , which grows as an understorey to the moist subtropical forests of mountainous Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi provinces. Without an upper storey of trees, bamboo will wither. The logging which has diminished the forest areas of these provinces has shrunk panda habitat as well.

A similar tale is that of the Yunnan snub-nosed monkey , endemic to western Yunnan. Some of the monkey's habitat is protected, but Deqin County, which became the focus of the issue, relies on timber for 95 percent of its government revenue - and thus for the salaries of its employees as well as for funding schools and health clinics. A wildlife videographer from Yunnan took special interest in the monkeys' plight and developed a television programme which was broadcast nationally. When word became known that logging activities might threaten some of the monkey's habitat, there was something akin to a national outcry. The Ministry of Forestry responded with concern and was naturally met with demands for compensation from Deqin County's government. To stop logging would undoubtedly bring economic hardship to the county, already mired in poverty of the most dramatic kind, and with few income options beyond the sale of its one valuable resource. To date, no long-term solution had been identified.