Due to ineffective control over the disappearance of biological
diversity, China now faces the difficult task of protection and
conservation. Currently, the Chinese government is working hard to
devise a biological diversity action program to control further
ecological damage with the aid of legislation, giving priority to
protecting key areas, increasing investment, and strengthening
public education.
Wang Dehui, an official from the State
Environmental Protection Administration, said that the number
of wild plants and animals is continuously decreasing due to
degeneration and damage to forests, grasslands, wetlands, rivers
and lakes. Of the 640 endangered species listed by the Convention
on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and
Flora, some 156, or one fourth, are in China.
Influenced by nonnative species, plant diseases and insect pest
infestations, China's grasslands and inland coastal areas are badly
damaged resulting in economic losses exceeding 50 billion yuan
(US$6.05 billion) every year. Experts say that half of the 100
worst pests listed by the World
Conservation Union (IUCN) are in China.
Wang said that in terms of modern biological technology,
genetically engineered crops, field experiments and
commercialization China lags behind only the United States and
Argentina. Transgenic organisms pose a potential threat to China's
biological diversity, ecological environment and people's
health.
Since 85 percent of China's natural reserves are located in western
parts of the country, protecting biological diversity is an
important and urgent issue especially as western development
projects, including the diversion of water from south to north,
plans to transport gas from west to east and construction of the
Qinghai-Tibet Railway, unfold.
The Chinese government is revising its China Biological Diversity
Action Program, issued in 1993, adding new contents including
biological safety, the eradication of nonnative species, and the
shared use of genetic resources. The government is working hard to
place the protection of biological diversity at the heart of the
western resource development projects, economic construction and
national programs.
It
is reported that environmental departments are promoting
legislation for the protection of biological diversity. The
legislation touches on biological safety, the eradication of
nonnative species, the shared use of genetic resources, biological
diversity development and public environmental education
programs.
During the 10th
Five-Year Plan period (2001-05), total investment made by the
Chinese government for biological diversity and natural ecological
environmental projects will reach 50 billion yuan (US$6.05
billion), while related national capability construction projects
will amount to 10 billion yuan (US$1.21 billion).
(China.org.cn translated by Li Jingrong, December 6, 2002)