Source: Xinhua Net
Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, May 23 Title: From "Rainforest Spirits" to "Hearts' Like": The Happy Life of "Fantastic Beasts"
Xinhua News Agency reporters Meng Jia and Qi Fei
China's vast expanse has bred rich and unique ecosystems, species and genetic diversity. Here, many "magical animals" enjoy running in the plains and deserts, climbing in the dense forests of the mountains, and diving in rivers, lakes and oceans.
China has always attached great importance to biodiversity conservation, especially in the past 10 years, from the implementation of the construction of the national park system and the delineation of ecological protection redlines, to the continuous strengthening of in situ and ex situ protection, the strengthening of biosafety management, to the continuous improvement of the quality of the ecological environment, the coordinated promotion of biodiversity conservation and green development, the new pattern of biodiversity governance in China has basically taken shape, and biodiversity conservation has entered a new historical period.
This is a Group B juvenile of Hainan gibbons photographed in May 2021. Xinhua News Agency
In Hainan, there is a group of "rainforest elves" - Hainan gibbons. They are endemic to China, at one point there were fewer than 10, and are classified as critically endangered by the IUCN.
In January this year, the appearance of a baby ape made the Hainan Gibbon Monitoring Team of the Bawangling Branch of the Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park Administration "boil".
"At that time, we were conducting daily monitoring of the Hainan gibbon D group, and suddenly in a large tube banyan tree in the waterfall ditch of Kuiyegang, we found a female ape nursing with a newborn cub." Remembering the scene at that time, Zheng Haiqiang, a member of the monitoring team, could not hide his excitement, "Don't mention more surprises! ”
Zheng Haiqiang, 55 years old this year, lives in the mountains with his team members for 5 days a month to track and monitor the Hainan gibbons. The arrival of the baby ape brought the population of Hainan gibbons to 5 groups of 36, which was a great comfort for many guardians like Zheng Haiqiang.
Over the years, in order to protect this critically endangered species from the extinction dilemma, the local transformation and restoration of more than 5,000 acres of Hainan gibbon habitat, planting more than 300,000 of its favorite tree species; building ecological corridors, building ecological rope bridges for climbing and activities; repeatedly carrying out mountain clearance operations, strictly prohibiting forest poaching; and forming a Hainan gibbon monitoring team to provide first-hand materials for scientific research.
In the day-to-day efforts, the number of "indigenous residents" of these Hainan Islands has been difficult to recover. According to data previously provided by the IUCN, of the 20 species of gibbons in the world, only the population of the Hainan gibbon remains stable and grows slowly.
Not only the Hainan gibbon, in China, 90% of the terrestrial ecosystem types and 71% of the wild animal and plant species under national key protection have been effectively protected, and the number of wild populations of more than 300 rare and endangered wild animals and plants has risen steadily.
On April 24 this year, a giant panda rested in a tree at the Wolong Shenshuping Base of the China Giant Panda Conservation and Research Center. Xinhua News Agency
The number of giant pandas in the wild has increased from 1114 to 1864 in 40 years, the crested ibises have grown from 7 at the beginning of their discovery to more than 6000 in the wild, and the tibetan antelope population has recovered to more than 300,000... These data are the fruitful results of China's continuous promotion of biodiversity conservation.
Last year, a herd of wild Asian elephants attracted the world's attention. This group of wild elephants from Xishuangbanna, Yunnan Province, traveled all the way north, traveled more than 2,000 kilometers, and finally returned to their original habitat safely under the careful care of the people.
"I've only seen elephants in zoos before, but this is the first time I've seen them." Pu Cuifen, head of the villagers' group in Lianhua Village, Eshan County, Yuxi City, still remembers the night when the wild elephant entered the village, and she was worried that the wild elephant would hurt people, and immediately in accordance with the early warning information issued by the relevant departments, she notified the villagers to evacuate and avoid danger and spend the night in a safe area.
The wild elephants at ease had enough to eat and drink in the village, but the villagers' farmland and greenhouses suffered. The damage to crops such as corn and soybeans and greenhouses was assessed to be about 50,000 yuan. "The elephants don't have any money, but fortunately they have insurance, and the compensation will come down in more than a month." Putrifen said the villagers were cooperative and understanding, "The elephants came home safely, and we are happy for them."
The "hiking" of elephants in Yunnan has also shown the world China's determination and action to protect wild animals.
Globally, due to illegal hunting and habitat loss, the asian elephant population has shown an overall downward trend and has been listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
In recent years, China has introduced a number of measures to strengthen the construction of natural protected areas, increase the protection of Asian elephants, and strive to improve mechanisms to solve the "human-elephant conflict". Through years of conservation, the population of wild Asian elephants in China has grown from about 150 in the 1970s and 1980s to more than 300 at present.
This is a herd of elephants taken on August 9, 2021 in Yuanjiang County, Yuxi City, Yunnan Province (drone photo). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Hu Chao
Chen Fei, director of the Asian Elephant Research Center of the State Forestry and Grassland Administration, believes that this rare long-distance migration of wild Asian elephants not only shows the steady growth of the population of Asian elephants in China in recent years, but also provides more guidance for the control of the migration and spread of Asian elephants in China, and at the same time provides successful experiences for better resolving "man-animal conflicts" in the future.
The Life of the Earth Report 2020 notes that global populations of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish declined by an average of 68% between 1970 and 2016. Marco Lambortini, WWF's Global Director-General, said the growing destruction of nature by humans has had a disastrous impact not only on wildlife populations, but also on all aspects of human health and life.
In the face of this global challenge, China has always adhered to the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind and actively carried out international cooperation on biodiversity conservation: China has actively implemented the Convention on Biological Diversity and its Protocols, becoming the largest donor of the core budget of the Convention on Biological Diversity and its Protocols since 2019; jointly establishing the "Belt and Road" Green Development International Alliance with many countries to cooperate in biodiversity conservation; and actively providing support for the conservation of biodiversity in developing countries under the framework of "South-South cooperation". More than 80 countries around the world benefit...
Ren Hai, director of the South China Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that in the process of implementing the Convention on Biological Diversity, China has comprehensively used legal, administrative, cultural, scientific and technological means to promote the formation of effective mechanisms and policy tools that combine "top-down" and "bottom-up" to improve biodiversity governance capabilities.
After returning to their original habitat, the elephants returning from the north to the south have been steadily active in the Mengyang area of Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve, and almost all winter in the forest, and from time to time they will enter the wild elephant valley to drink water and take sand baths.
Guo Xianming, director of the Scientific Research Institute of Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve in Yunnan, said that according to monitoring and analysis, after returning to the "hometown", the elephant herd was in good condition, and the baby elephants grew and became fatter, returning to the safety of the past. (Contributors: Zhao Peiran, Chen Kaizi)