China takes actions to cut species losses in the International Year of Biodiversity

There are about 34,000 kinds of plants and more than 5,200 kinds of animals on the planet facing extinction and the rate of loss due to human activities is as much as 1,000 times higher than natural attrition

By TANG YUANKAI

The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity on January 11 to highlight continued devastation of the planet’s natural resources.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called it a “wake-up call” to protect the globe’s natural resources. He said the action accorded with the deadline adopted by governments in 2002 to achieve a signi fi cant reduction in the rate of loss of the diversity of species and ecosystems of the planet.

The theme of the International Year of Biodiversity is “Biodiversity Is Life,Biodiversity Is Our Life.”

On January 26, actions related to the International Year of Biodiversity started in China.

Alarm bell

Biodiversity, the variety of life on Earth,is essential to sustain living networks and systems providing us all with health, wealth,food, fuel and the vital services our lives depend on, said Rolf Hogan, Program Manager for Biodiversity of the World Wildlife Fund(WWF), one of the world’s largest and most effective independent organizations dedicated to the conservation of nature.

He said that people must take actions to protect biodiversity in order to sustain a est global environmental network.

The latest update of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species on November 3, 2009 showed 22 percent of all known mammals, 30 percent of amphibians, 12 percent of birds, and 28 percent of reptiles are under threat. To this was added 37 percent of freshwater fi sh species, 70 percent of plants and 35 percent of invertebrates assessed so far.

According to UN statistics, forest devastation and degradation alone will cause between $2 trillion to $4.5 trillion in economic losses each year. By comparison,global losses from the financial downturn that started in 2008 amounted to about $4.1 trillion, the International Monetary Fund estimates.

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Government actions

“Conservation of biodiversity is the common responsibility of the whole world. The Chinese Government attaches great importance to the International Year of Biodiversity and has put in place an action program to conduct a series of activities to encourage the public to participate in biodiversity conservation,” said Zhou Shengxian, Minister of Environmental Protection of China.

He said China was one of the 12 countries in the world with rich biodiversity, one of the eight centers of the origin of crops strong biological system.

Scientists say there are about 34,000 kinds of plants and more than 5,200 kinds of animals on the planet facing extinction and the rate of loss due to human activities is as much as 1,000 times higher than natural attrition.

“The loss of the beautiful and complex natural diversity underpinning all life on the planet is a serious threat to humankind now and in the future,” said Jane Smart, Director of the Biodiversity Conservation Group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the world’s oldest and largand one of four origin centers of cultivated plants, so it was important for China to conserve biodiversity.

In 1993, China signed the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, which is based on the premise the world’s diverse ecosystems purify air and water, stabilize and moderate the Earth’s climate, renew soil fertility, cycle nutrients and pollinate plants.

In 1994, China issued its Biological Diversity Protection Action Plan and set up a coordination group consisted of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and 24 departments of the State Council, China’s cabinet,to guarantee the implementation of the UN convention.

SHINING GREEN: Leaves of trees look fresh and beautiful in the sunshine at Wuzhishan Nature Reserve in Hainan Province

Then China set up a joint conference system for biological species resource protection and issued the Implementation Plan for the Nationwide Wetland Protection Program (2005-10). It also fulfilled a group of bilateral and multilateral international projects cooperating with the UN Secretariat, the UN Environmental Program and Development Program, the World Bank and the Global Environmental Facility.

In January 2003, the Chinese Academy of Sciences launched a rescue project, planning to increase various types of plants under protection to 21,000 from 13,000 in its 12 botanic gardens and to build the world’s largest botanic garden covering an area of 458 square km.

Recently, the Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences set up a key laboratory for biodiversity informatics to make extensive research in the three main fi elds of diversity∶ gene, species and ecosystems.

“Today, China has made great progress in strategic planning, scienti fi c research and improving public awareness,” Zhou said,adding that 85 percent of natural ecosystem types, 47 percent of natural wetlands, 20 percent of natural forests and 65 percent of higher flora communities in the country have been protected. Also under this protection umbrella are most of China’s recognized natural heritage and endangered wildlife.

CHEERFUL PLACE:Wild geese come to the Yellow River Wetland Reserve in Mengjin,central China’s Henan Province, to pass the winter

Despite this, Zhou said the habitats of some important species are facing threats and loss of genetic resources. He said that now the Ministry of Environmental Protection is considering to revise the China Biological Diversity Protection Action Plan and publish the China Biological Diversity Protection Strategy and Action Plan, taking the opportunity of the International Year of Biodiversity.

According to him, the revised Protection Strategy and Action Plan would con fi rm 34 priority protection areas, set out the approach and guiding principles for China’s biodiversity conservation from 2010 to 2030 as well as short-, medium- and long-term tasks.

“Biodiversity is the ‘immune system of the Earth’ and wetlands, natural ecological systems containing a great spread of biodiversity are the ‘kidney of the earth.’ They play a pivotal role in sustaining the whole function of the land’s ecological systems,”said Jia Zhibang, Minister of the State Forestry Administration of China.

He said that a national wetland protection network is being formed. In wetland areas,“China has built more than 550 natural reserves, 100 national parks and 37 important international wetlands, in which 50 percent of natural wetlands and a large number of endangered species are under protection,” Jia said.

Work of NGOs

“Protection for biodiversity is facing a unprecedented opportunity today,” said Lu Zhi, Director of Shanshui Conservation Center, an environmental NGO in China dedicated to biodiversity protection, who represented NGOs at the China action launch ceremony for International Year of Biodiversity.

Data from the 23rd International Conference for Conservation Biology held in Beijing last July showed there are 3,000 NGOs dedicated to environmental and species protection in China.

In the mid-1980s, Lu did a research in a secluded area of Qinling Mountain in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province to research giant pandas. as a member of the Giant Panda and Wildlife Conservation Research Center at Peking University. “One day, a pregnant deer strayed into a village and was caught by a villager finally. A villager told me I could taste the meat of the deer. That shocked me,” Lu said. “So I realized environmental protection needs supports from local people. Without that, there is nothing we can do.”

“We should encourage cooperation between governments, NGOs and local communities. Public participation, cooperation and mutual understanding will make natural protection more ef fi cient. As well, it will enable presently marginalized protection work to be better understood by the public,” she said.

On May 12, 2008, a strong earthquake hit Sichuan Province. Its epicenter was in Wenchuan County, which is on the eastern edge of a key biodiversity area in China’s southwest mountains. Data collected by the Giant Panda and Wildlife Conservation Research Center show luxuriant forest vegetation diffused damage to panda habitats as well as to people and their environment.

“This indicates protection of ecological environment has much meaning in relation to the safety of human life and properties,”Lu said.

Liu Mingfu is the head of Chaping Village of Dujiangyan, Sichuan Province.He received a biodiversity training from a China-European Union project three months ago. Over the past months, he led villagers to record ecological resources around the village with pens and cameras. Recently, they published a guidebook, summarizing their research achievements.

“They discovered there are more than 2,000 plant species in the region, among which more than 200 were recorded in detail by villagers,” Jia Lei, who was in charge of this research, said.

Although the word “biodiversity” is a new concept to most Chinese, loving life and being harmonious with nature are ongoing and are deeply rooted in Chinese culture.“The key to successful biodiversity protection is in public participation and wisdom,”Lu said. ■