China's efforts to curb desertification will get a push from a
program announced yesterday by the European Commission (EC) and the
United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
The EU-China Biodiversity Program (ECBP), with a total budget of
close to 52 million euros (US$66.4 million), is designed to assist
China in its goal to manage the ecosystem and help implement
international conventions related to biodiversity.
The five-year program, formally launched yesterday, will receive
a contribution of 30 million euros (US$38.3 million) from the EU,
and 405,000 euros (US$517,000) from the UNDP. Balance funding will
come from China's State Environmental Protection Administration
(SEPA) and other partners willing to join the program.
"The government of China is committed to reversing biodiversity
losses across the country," said Franz Jessen, deputy head of the
EC delegation in Beijing. The ECBP will provide support to China in
designing biodiversity policies and strategies, and in implementing
projects on the ground.
Arid and semi-arid areas, found mainly in western and northern
regions, account for more than half of China's total land area.
"Biodiversity conservation in these areas is facing grave
challenges posed by harsh natural conditions coupled with the
impact of irrational economic development activities, threatening
the continued existence of quite a number of species," SEPA's Vice
Minister Wu Xiaoqing said at yesterday's launch ceremony.
"China is one of the world's richest sources of biodiversity,
which is not only a huge natural life resource for China, but also
a treasure for the whole world."
About 40 percent of China's land is classified as dry-land
ecosystems, and approximately half of this area has been affected
by land degradation and desertification, said Kishan Khoda,
assistant resident representative of UNDP China.
China signed the Convention on Biological Diversity in 1993, a
treaty that seeks to anticipate, prevent and attack the causes of
significant reduction or loss of biological diversity around the
world.
According to the convention, biodiversity loss in China should
be brought to a halt by 2010.
"Although China has taken great steps to conserve biodiversity
and meet its international commitments, at present, biodiversity
continues to be degraded," said Wang Yexu, deputy division chief of
SEPA's Foreign Economic Cooperation Office.
"High-level commitment does not always lead to action in the
field. Further, roles and responsibilities are dispersed, sometimes
overlapping and sometimes duplicated."
Part of the funding will be used for policy making, monitoring
and raising awareness about the importance of biodiversity within
the government. But most of it will be spent on financing local
field projects in west and south China.
Wang said that the EU picked west and south China as
beneficiaries of the funding because of their biodiversity richness
and economic poverty.
(China Daily May 23, 2006)