【Striving for a new journey to build a new era of merit and great change】
Guangming Daily reporter Zhang Lei
In 2021, a group of wild Asian elephants from Xishuangbanna migrated northward into Kunming. Under the soft guidance and careful care of the local government, they finally "wandered" outside for several months and crossed the Yuan River south and returned to their homeland.
The bold behavior of this group of land "Big Macs" has attracted the attention of the whole world. A Japanese media specially made a program to detail the hundreds of kilometers of "fantasy trip", saying that "Xishuangbanna Nature Reserve does not set up barriers like a safari park, the elephant family will not be stopped when they go out, and the Chinese government's care for the elephants in the migration is impressive." Netizens said: "Strolling around, eating, walking all the way, the elephant tour explains what is called jointly building a community of life on the earth." ”
Obviously, the "wild elephants moving north" event has become a vivid example of the mainland's promotion of harmonious coexistence between man and nature. It is a microcosm that witnesses China's efforts to protect biodiversity and shows the world the remarkable results achieved by China's ecological civilization construction.
Take solid action to protect natural ecosystems and biological resources
Data from the State Forestry and Grassland Administration show that through years of conservation, the number of Asian elephants in the wild on the mainland has increased from 180 in the 1980s to about 300 today. Judging from the path through which the elephant herds went north this time, experts believe that these places are rich in plant diversity, forests are in patches, and the ecological environment is good, providing a safe passage for the migration of elephants and a comfortable space for rest and rest, making it possible for Asian elephants to move north.
A herd of elephants photographed in Yuanjiang County, Yuxi City, Yunnan Province. Xinhua News Agency
Biodiversity is related to human well-being and is an important foundation for human survival and development. On September 30, 2020, Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered an important speech via video at the United Nations Biodiversity Summit, pointing out: "We must stand at the height of being responsible for human civilization, respect nature, conform to nature, protect nature, explore the road of harmonious coexistence between man and nature, promote the coordination and unity of economic development and ecological protection, and build a prosperous, clean and beautiful world." ”
Unity of knowledge and action stops at the highest good. In recent years, the mainland has continuously promoted the construction of nature reserves, launched the pilot project of the national park system, built a natural protected area system with national parks as the main body, clarified the priority areas for biodiversity conservation, protected important natural ecosystems and biological resources, and played an active role in maintaining the habitats of important species.
At this moment, countless Chinese are guarding their beautiful homeland with practical actions: in the Snow Mountain of Baima, Yunnan, the Yunnan Golden Snub-nosed Monkey is leaping freely in the forest, and the monkey ranger Yu Jianhua shuttles through the dense forest to guard these lovely "Snow Mountain Spirits"; for decades, Wang Mingwu has been "floating" on the Yangtze River, but from a fisherman who shakes a boat and casts a net to a fish guard who drives a boat to patrol; the Saihanba Forest Farm in Hebei Province, which was once a wasteland, the watchmen tens their nerves and watch over the safety of the forest sea...
From the south to the north, from the inland to the seashore, more and more rare birds and beasts and exotic flowers and plants have begun to return, showing the wonders of nature and the beauty of ecology——
In The Bawangling Nature Reserve in Hainan, the wild population of black-crowned gibbons has grown from less than 10 in two groups 40 years ago to 35 in five groups today.
Remember last year's "entering the village" of the Siberian tiger "Guandashan No. 1"? It was the first wild Siberian tiger successfully rescued and released from the mainland. After Jilin and Heilongjiang actively promoted the pilot construction of the Northeast Tiger and Leopard National Park, the situation of "Lin Shen Tibetan Tiger and Leopard" is taking shape.
On the roof of the world, on the snowy plateau, the wild population of Tibetan antelope has recovered from 60,000 to 70,000 in the early 1990s to about 300,000 now, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has downgraded the protection level of Tibetan antelope from "endangered" to "near-threatened".
The protection and restoration of wetlands in the Yellow River Delta have also achieved remarkable results, with the natural vegetation coverage rate of the reserve reaching 55.1%, the insect species increasing from 478 to 512 species, and the bird species from 187 when the nature reserve was first established to 370 today.
"Through the construction of a scientific and reasonable system of nature reserves, 90% of terrestrial ecosystem types and 71% of the national key protected wild animal and plant species have been effectively protected." In October 2021, the Information Office of the State Council pointed out in the release of the white paper "Biodiversity Conservation in China".
Creating a "Boat of Life" for Rare and Endangered Animals and Plants
In this vibrant land of China, mammals that can complete long-distance wild migration are not only Asian elephants.
On November 6, 2013, Zhang Xiang, a two-year-old female giant panda born at the Bifengxia Base in Ya'an, china's Giant Panda Conservation and Research Center, was released into nature in The Liziping Nature Reserve in Sichuan Province after undergoing rewilding training. In April 2016, it moved through the Tuowushan Ecological Corridor to the adjacent Yele Nature Reserve, and then crossed National Highway 108 to reach the Lime Kiln Giant Panda Population Area of the Xiaoxiangling Mountains. Infrared camera records show that Zhang Xiang successfully completed the migration between two relatively independent local populations, becoming the first released giant panda to be found to be active across the reserve.
In recent years, Batang County, Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, has vigorously implemented the protection and restoration of natural forests, strengthened the protection of biodiversity, and the ecological environment has continued to improve. The picture shows the Zhangde Grassland and Zajinjiabo Sacred Mountain photographed in the Tsopugou Scenic Area. Xinhua News Agency
In recent years, the mainland has continued to increase the protection of giant panda populations, achieved breakthroughs in artificial breeding, rewilding and repatriation, improved the protection of giant panda habitats, and continued to grow steadily in captivity and wild giant panda populations. Data from the State Forestry and Grassland Administration show that from January to September 2021, a total of 32 live giant panda cubs and 46 children were bred on the mainland, and the total number of captive giant pandas reached 673; 1340 wild giant pandas were included in the protection scope of the Giant Panda National Park, accounting for 71.89% of the national wild population; 67 giant panda nature reserves at all levels were established, effectively protecting 53.8% of the giant panda habitat. At the same time, we continued to promote the rejuvenation of small populations of giant pandas in the wild, and successfully released 11 artificially bred giant pandas. All of the above protection measures have reduced the threat level of giant pandas from "endangered" to "vulnerable".
Biodiversity conservation actions are also unprecedented in the plant world. In situ conservation, ex situ conservation, wild return... 120 species of wild plants with extremely small populations, such as Debao cycads, canopies and baishan ancestral firs, have been rescued and protected on the mainland, and the populations of some endangered species have gradually recovered. Especially in the protection of germplasm resources, the mainland has built nearly 200 botanical gardens of various types at all levels, collected and preserved more than 20,000 species, and basically completed the collection and preservation of germplasm resources of rare wild plants such as cycads, palms and key orchids and magnolias native to the mainland.
In the dense forests of the northern suburbs of Kunming, the four-story building where the Southwest China Wildlife Germplasm Resource Bank is located at the Kunming Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences looks ordinary, but it is the "home" of wild rare and endangered plants.
As the only comprehensive preservation facility in mainland China that focuses on the conservation of wildlife germplasm resources, and also the largest wildlife germplasm resource bank in Asia, the Southwest China Wildlife Germplasm Resource Bank has established a germplasm resource collection network involving dozens of domestic scientific research institutions, colleges and universities and nature reserves, and has formulated collection norms and standards, focusing on the collection of wild plant species such as national key protection and rare and endangered species. "This is the 'home' of seeds and the 'boat of life', and as long as it is safe and sound, it is enough to save these wild and rare plants from extinction." Our goal is to conserve 19,000 germplasm resources and 190,000 copies. Li Deba, a researcher at the Kunming Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and director of the Wildlife Germplasm Resource Bank in Southwest China, told reporters that they will exchange reserve seeds with other institutions in the world from time to time, "which is very necessary for the safety of global germplasm resources."
A new journey has been made for global biodiversity governance
A fantastic trip has inadvertently made Asian elephants and the red land of Yunnan inadvertently become the focus of the world's attention, and it has become a gorgeous blooming flower on the picture of China's ecological civilization.
At present, human beings stand at the crossroads of biodiversity conservation and global sustainable development. In the face of global biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation, China adheres to the concept of harmonious coexistence between man and nature, adheres to the priority of protection and green development, and forms a mechanism led by the government, with the participation of the whole people, multilateral governance and win-win cooperation, which not only promotes the continuous achievement of new results in China's biodiversity conservation, but also makes new contributions to addressing global biodiversity challenges.
On October 15, 2021, the 15th Conference of the Parties (Phase I) of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity in 2020 came to an end in Kunming, Yunnan Province, with more than 5,000 representatives from more than 140 Parties and more than 30 international institutions and organizations participating through a combination of online and offline methods. The conference announced China's new measures to commit to biodiversity conservation, including: taking the lead in investing 1.5 billion yuan to establish the Kunming Biodiversity Fund; accelerating the construction of a natural protected area system with national parks as the main body, formally establishing the first batch of national parks such as Sanjiangyuan, giant panda, Northeast Tiger and Leopard, Hainan Tropical Rainforest, Wuyishan, etc.; successively issuing implementation plans for carbon peaking in key areas and industries and a series of supporting safeguard measures, and building a carbon peak, carbon neutrality "1 + N" policy system. The conference also adopted the Kunming Declaration, which released a positive signal of strengthening the conservation of biodiversity, and the beautiful vision of harmonious coexistence between man and nature was clearer.
People do not live up to Qingshan, and Qingshan will certainly not live up to people. Starting from Kunming, the process of global biodiversity governance has opened a new chapter. Standing at a new starting point, the international community should work hand in hand to build a beautiful home on earth.
Happily, change is happening—
More than 3,000 kilometers away from Kunming, Russia's "Leopard Hometown" National Park cooperates with China's Northeast Tiger and Leopard National Park to strive to improve the ecological environment of wild Northeast tiger and leopard habitats;
During his participation in the fifteenth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Malapé expressed plans to phase out log exports while developing solar, hydraulic and geothermal energy to reduce carbon emissions;
In the Sahel region of Africa, Chinese concepts and technological elements have been deeply integrated into the construction of the "Great Green Wall" project in Africa...
Guangming Daily ( 2022-04-25 05 edition)
Source: Guangming Network - Guangming Daily