China has rich biodiversity, boasting the world's largest number
of bird species and gymnosperm varieties. But China's biodiversity
is faced with a critical situation: 15 to 20 percent of higher
plant varieties are endangered, threatening the existence of 40,000
species of organisms related with them.?
As one of the earliest contracting country to the Convention on
Biological Diversity, China has been active in international
affairs concerning the Convention and vocal on important issues
related to biodiversity. China is also one of the few countries to
complete the Convention's action plans. The China Action Plan for
Biodiversity Conservation implemented in 1994 provided rules and
regulations for many eco-environmental protection activities.
According to the Law on the Protection of Wildlife, the highest
punishment for crimes of damaging wildlife resources is the death
penalty.?
Emphasizing effective protection of biological resources,
government departments have built and put into operation facilities
for preserving genetic resources. In January 2003, the Chinese
Academy of Sciences initiated a project to save endangered plants
with the aim of increasing the plant varieties from 13,000 to
21,000 under the protection of its 12 affiliated botanic gardens
within 15 years, and to build a botanic garden covering a total
area of 458 sq km, which will be the world's largest. The project
involves over 300 million yuan investment into the collection of
rare and endangered plants, and gene banks will be built with the
Qinling Mountain, Wuhan, Xishuangbanna and Beijing as the
centers.
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To help save endangered wildlife, 250 wildlife breeding centers
have been established throughout the country, and special projects
conducted to protect seven species, including giant pandas and red
ibises. Giant panda numbers have risen from 1,100 to over 1,590 and
their conditions continue to improve. The red ibis population has
increased from seven to over 750, relieving that bird's endangered
situation. The population of artificially bred Chinese alligators
is nearly 10,000. The population of Eld's deer has increased from
26 to 1,600. The population of relic gulls has increased from 2,000
to more than 10,000. Sightings of tigers, rare in recent times,
have been reported in the northeastern, eastern and southern parts
of China. The number of artificially bred South-China tiger grew to
68 while the number of Northeast tiger has exceeded 1,300. In
freshwater dolphin studies, China's research on white-flag dolphins
leads the world and its research on artificial breeding of
white-flag dolphins has accelerated. Thanks to persistent combat
against poaching and the cooperation of many international animal
protection organizations, the Tibetan antelope population, which
had shrunken sharply because of poaching, has reached about
190,000.
