Founded in 1964 and subordinated to the Chinese Academy of Forestry (CAF), the Research Institute of Forestry Policy and Information (RIFPI) is situated in the academy’s head campus in Beijing. The institute is a national forest institute engaged in forest-related soft science research and provides science and technological information service.
The history of the institute dates back to the Forest-related Science and Technology Information Office of CAF set up in October 1958 when the academy was officially established. The Research Institute of Forest Science and Technology Information was founded as a specialized research institute focusing on information service in 1964. In 1993, the institute was renamed in response to the expansion of its research scope to cover, among others, forest economics, policy, culture, strategic planning, wood products, industry and trade, and international forest-related processes.
The institute has a total permanent staff of 104. It has eight research units, including (1) Unit of Forestry Strategy and Planning; (2) Unit of Forest Economics and Policy; (3) Unit of Forest Products, Marketing and Trades; (4) Unit of Forest Resources and Environmental Economy; (5) Unit of Sustainable Forest Management; (6) Unit of Forestry History and Ecological Culture; (7) Unit of International Forest Issues and World Forestry Research; and (8) Unit of Forest Science and Technology Information and Intellectual Property Management. In addition, it hosts six Chinese journals including World Forestry Research, Forest Science and Technology, World Bamboo and Rattan, Journal of Chinese Urban Forestry, and World Forestry and Grassland Newsletter. RIFPI also manages the academy’s library, which was established in 1959 and has a total collection of exceeding 0.4 million hard-copy books and 26 introduced literature databases in different languages.
Since its founding, the institute has been playing a significant role in bridging China’s forest sector with the world through knowledge provision and relevant publications, such as The Development Trend of Overseas Forestry and Forest Industry, Foreign Forestry Overview, World Forestry, Research on Foreign Policy for Forestry Industry, and Contemporary World Forestry. Entering the new era focusing on sustainability, RIFPI dedicates its enduring think-tank efforts to support serial national initiatives in the forest sector including forest tenure reform, sustainable forest management, forest carbon accounting and valuation, payment for ecosystem services (PES), national park planning and management, etc.
The institute has extended its cooperation with many countries and forest-related international organizations such as FAO, ITTO, WWF, GIZ, JICA and so on. The institute has implemented various international projects funded by EU Framework Programme (Horizon), ADB, GEF, DFID, etc. Several RIFPI scientists serve as officeholders in forest-related international organizations like IUFRO and CFC and play active roles, for instance, the institute provided in-kind support and played a crucial role in organizing the 4th International Congress on Planted Forests in Beijing in 2018.
For more information, please visit: http://rifpi.caf.ac.cn.
