Founded in 1987, the Research Institute of Fast-growing Trees (RIFT), Chinese Academy of Forestry (CAF), was developed based onan international co-operative project ‘China Eucalypt Centre’ involving the former Chinese Ministry of Forestry and the Australian International Development Assistance Bureau (AIDAB – which has since changed its name to Australian Aid). The institute became an institute Chinese Academy of Forestry in 1995 and renamed on fast-growing trees in 2021.
The institute currently has 46 professional scientific staff, including: 6 with senior professional titles-research professors; 16 with vice-senior professional titles; and 17 staff with middle or primary professional titles – senior engineers or assistant engineers.
The institute is a multi-disciplinary, public welfare state-level scientific research institution. It integrates scientific research, development, promotion and demonstration while focusing on solving comprehensive, critical and fundamental major scientific and technological problems in the development of Chinese fast growing tree industry and ecological construction. The key fields of the institute cover include: tree genetics and breeding; silviculture; forest health and protection; plantation ecology; molecular biology; modern nursery technologies; and, landscape plants.
Major research outputs from the institute include: “Forest nursery of new technologies”; “Large-diameter timber eucalypt cultivation technology”; and“Drought tolerance eucalypt germplasm and its breeding technology”. Since 2010, the institute has achieved 29 significant new achievements and have been recognized by 12 major awards, including one second prize of the National Award for Science and Technology Progress and five Provincial Science and Technology Progress Awards; 18 invention patents and seven utility model patents; seven forestry standards; nine new plant varieties; 527 scientific papers of which 118 have been published in SCI listed journals; and 12 books.
The institute has a good foundation of scientific facilities. Its scientific research nursery and laboratory equipment have been recently upgraded to service the R&D needs of Chinese plantation forest industry. Facilities and groups which are affiliated to the institute include: Eucalypt Branch of Chinese Society of Forestry; South China Experimental Nursery; Eucalypt Industrial Technology Innovation Strategic Alliance; Eucalypt Plantation Ecosystem National Observation Station of Guangdong Zhanjiang; China Eucalypt Engineering Technology Research Centre; China Eucalypt Seedling Nursery; and, Eucalypt Cultivation National Long-term Scientific Research Base. In addition, the institute’s laboratories are now equipped with over 300 types of equipment, valued at over 30 million yuan, for various scientific R&D work.
The institute has been cooperating with other Chinese forestry research institutes, agricultural and forestry colleges and leading enterprises for a long time, and it has made many achievements in collaborative testing of eucalypt clones, families and seed sources, large scale cross breeding programs, environmental light nursery media and environmental organic fertilizer development.
The institute also has a long history of successful, productive international communications and collaborations which continue to this day. Since 1992, it formed a stable and long-term cooperation relationship with many forestry institutes in Australia such as Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO). Similarly, the institute and the Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute in South Africa (FABI) have a strong and long-standing relationship in international communication and scientific cooperation. During these years, the institute has also collaborated with many multinational forestry companies’ pulp & paper projects by providing technical guidance. Cooperation and communication have been maintained with Weyerhaeuser in US, UPM and Stora Enso, Sinar Mas Group of Indonesia and RGE Group in Singapore, and others.
For more information, please visit: http://chinaeuc.caf.ac.cn.
