This white paper is a panoramic record of biodiversity conservation in China

Source: People's Daily - Strong Country Forum Original draft

People's Daily Beijing, October 9 (Xiao Congcong, intern Liu Lingyu) On the occasion of the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (cop15), the white paper "China's Biodiversity Conservation" released on the 8th showed the world the concept, measures and effectiveness of China's biodiversity conservation.

The number of giant pandas in the wild has increased to 1864, and the total population of crested ibises has exceeded 5000... Ren Hai, director of the South China Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said in an interview with the "Strong Observation" column of the People's Network that the white paper speaks with facts and data throughout, which is a panoramic record of China's biodiversity conservation and helps promote the positive interaction between China's conservation and global conservation of biodiversity conservation.

In situ and ex situ conservation complement each other

The white paper points out that China has continued to increase ex situ protection efforts, and has established a relatively complete ex situ conservation system such as botanical gardens, wildlife rescue and breeding bases, germplasm resource banks and gene banks. Up to now, nearly 200 botanical gardens (arboretums) have been established, more than 23,000 species of plants have been preserved, 250 wildlife rescue and breeding bases have been established, and more than 60 kinds of rare and endangered wild animals have been successfully artificially bred.

"Ex situ conservation facilities include botanical gardens (arboretums) for introduction cultivation and conservation, as well as germplasm (sub)banks for ex vivo conservation using cryogenic techniques." Ren Hai further explained that ex situ conservation is the transfer of plant seeds, living plants or ex vivo organs to a suitable environment created by humans to protect them from natural disasters or human factors. Ex situ conservation is not only of great significance for species whose native environment has been severely damaged and the survival of populations is greatly threatened, but also an effective means of rescue conservation.

In terms of in-situ protection, the white paper pointed out that since 2015, 10 national park systems such as Sanjiangyuan have been launched to integrate relevant nature reserves into the scope of national parks. With the continuous advancement of the construction 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 situ conservation and ex situ conservation complement each other and play an active role in protecting biodiversity and maintaining habitats of important species, especially China has also carried out the field return of 206 rare and endangered plants, which provide important support for human restoration and utilization of biological resources." Ren Hai said.

The national biosafety management capacity has continued to improve

The white paper points out that China attaches great importance to biosecurity, incorporates biosecurity into the national security system, promulgates and implements the Biosecurity Law, and systematically plans the construction of a national biosecurity risk prevention and control and governance system. The mechanism for the prevention and control of invasion of alien species has been gradually improved, the healthy development of biotechnology, the protection and supervision of biological genetic resources have been continuously strengthened, and the national biosecurity management capacity has continued to improve.

Ren Hai said that in order to strengthen the prevention and management of invasive alien species, China established the National Biosecurity Committee and the Biological Invasion Expert Committee in 2016, and the Biosecurity Law of the People's Republic of China and the Regulations on the Prevention and Control of Crop Diseases and Insect Pests were officially promulgated in 2020. In addition, a database of invasive alien species in China has been established for typical invasive alien species, and invasive alien species monitoring and early warning, prevention and control, elimination, supervision and management have been carried out.

According to the white paper, the third national census and collection of crop germplasm resources is being carried out, and 92,000 copies of crop germplasm resources have been collected, of which more than 90% are newly discovered resources.

"For decades, China has attached great importance to the protection of crop genetic diversity." Ren Hai said that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has established a national crop germplasm resources platform, a key open laboratory and test station system for the utilization of crop germplasm resources, and a national crop germplasm resources science and technology innovation alliance. In addition, a number of provincial governments have also established relevant research systems to protect germplasm resources.

Xie Huaan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a plant genetic breeder who has been engaged in breeding research for many years, believes that excellent germplasm resources are the basis of germplasm innovation, and only by preserving these germplasm resources can we further explore favorable genes, and with an excellent germplasm resource bank, we can continuously improve the independent innovation ability of the seed industry.

Jointly build a community of human and natural life

The white paper points out that in the face of the global challenge of biodiversity loss, all countries are in the same boat and a community of common destiny.

According to a global assessment released by the United Nations in May 2019, human activities have altered 75% of the terrestrial environment, 66% of the marine environment has been affected, and a quarter of the world's species are threatened with extinction. On 18 September 2020, the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity released the fifth edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook (gbo-5), which notes that despite positive progress in biodiversity conservation in many areas, the natural world is still suffering a heavy blow and the global biodiversity situation is deteriorating day by day.

According to the white paper, China actively carries out international cooperation on biodiversity conservation, conducts extensive consultations and builds consensus, contributes Chinese wisdom to promoting global biodiversity conservation, and works with the international community to build a community of human and natural life.

In Ren Hai's view, in the face of the global challenge of biodiversity loss, China actively implements the Convention on Biological Diversity and its protocols to promote synergies between relevant conventions, and at the same time, with the help of multilateral cooperation mechanisms such as the "Belt and Road" and "South-South Cooperation", it provides financial, technical and capacity-building support for the conservation of biodiversity in developing countries, helping them accelerate the green and low-carbon transformation and share green development opportunities.

"In the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity, it is necessary to change the previous model of working on this convention alone." For example, Ren Hai said that the three control lines of ecological protection red line, permanent basic farmland and urban development boundary are insurmountable red lines. Strict adherence to the three lines of control not only takes into account human use of the earth's space, but also achieves climate, biodiversity, desertification control and sustainable development goals.

"The implementation of international conventions should focus on promoting synergies between biodiversity-related conventions, and comprehensively use legal, administrative, cultural, scientific and technological instruments, the core of which is the overall action to improve the national level rather than the action of the convention itself." In the process of implementing the convention, we will build a community of interests, responsibilities and destiny for the conservation and utilization of biodiversity. Ren Hai said.