A United Nations official yesterday hailed an initiative by China to set up a regional network on forest rehabilitation and sustainable management.

"It is a fantastic move if the network is put in place and in practice," said Wulf Killmann, chairman of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) Interdepartmental Working Group on Climate Change, in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

President Hu Jintao had put forward the initiative at the 15th Economic Leaders' Informal Meeting of the Asia- Pacific Economic Cooperation in Australia in September.

The initiative seeks to set up an Asia-Pacific network on forest rehabilitation and sustainable management aimed at coping with climate change.

Killman, who is in Bali for the UN Climate Change Conference, said the network is expected to help reduce deforestation and contribute to the implementation of the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation in Developing Countries proposal, which involves creating new financial incentives for developing countries and empowering them to slow down their rates of deforestation.

The UN official added that the network is set to contribute to the sustainable management of forests in Asia and the Pacific, and help reduce carbon emissions from deforestation.

FAO figures showed that deforestation is estimated to have occurred at an alarming rate of 13 million hectares a year in the period from 1990 to 2005, accounting for 20 percent of global annual greenhouse gas emissions in the late 1990s and making it the world's second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions.

Killman cited China as "a good example" in addressing the issue of deforestation, saying that it is "one of the countries with the highest rate of replanting".

(Xinhua News Agency December 7, 2007)