V. Protection of the Ecological
Environment and Biodiversity
The Chinese government regards ecological environmental protection as the
focal point of its environmental protection work. Through protracted
efforts the country has made outstanding achievements in the protection
and nurturing of the ecological environment.
-- Achievements have been made in afforestation. Since the 1950s the
Chinese government has organized large-scale tree planting activities and
stepped up efforts for the fostering, protection and management of forest
resources and consequently has made great progress in rational
utilization of forest resources. Since the reform and opening up the
afforestation efforts have been quickened, with the quantity increased
annually and the quality improved continuously, thus basically
eliminating the deficit in forest reserves which had existed for a long
period, while the growth of forests has begun to exceed consumption. As a
result, the era of increase both in forest acreage and reserve has dawned
on the country. Currently, China's forest area totals 134 million
hectares, which brings the country's forest cover up to 13.92 percent.
Artificial afforestation covers 33.79 million hectares. Volunteers have
contributed a total of 4.4 billion person-times to planting 23 billion
trees. Once-barren mountains suitable for tree planting in 12 provinces
and autonomous regions are now clothed with greenery.
The government has paid special attention to the construction of forest
ecological projects. Since 1978 China has established ten forest
ecological projects, with a scheduled afforestation area of 120 million
hectares -- aimed mainly at protecting and improving the natural
eco-environment and realizing the sustainable use of natural resources.
These projects are: the ``three norths'' shelterbelts (the western area
of Northeast, and the northern parts of North and Northwest China), the
shelterbelts along the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze River, the
coastal shelterbelts, the plain farmland shelterbelts, the Taihang
Mountains afforestation project, the anti-desertification project, the
shelterbelts for comprehensive control in the Huaihe River and Taihu Lake
basins, the shelterbelts for comprehensive control in the Pearl River
basin, the shelterbelts for comprehensive control in the Liaohe River
basin, and the shelterbelts along the middle reaches of the Yellow River.
Currently, the ``three norths'' shelterbelts project has finished its
first and second phases, resulting in a newly afforested area of 18.51
million hectares and increasing the forest cover from 5.05 to 8.2
percent. This project has turned more than 40,000 sq km of barren land
into green land and more than 1.3 million hectares of desert land into
farmland, pastures and orchards. Twelve percent of the total desertified
land has been worked on, and 10 percent of it has been brought under
control, more than 11 million hectares of farmland have been protected by
forest networks, while 8.93 million hectares of grassland have been
restored, resulting in a 20-odd percent increase in grass output. The
agricultural eco-environment in one third of the counties covered by the
``three norths'' project has entered a benign circle. The shelterbelts
project along the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze River has
yielded a total of more than 5.46 million hectares of newly planted
forest in seven years. A grand total of 1.6 million hectares of forest
has appeared since coastal shelterbelts project was launched in an
all-round way in 1991, which basically covers the 18,000-kilometer-long
coastline. A total of 769 counties or cities covered by the plain
farmland shelterbelts have reached their tree-planting goals, accounting
for 84 percent of the total 918 counties in the plain areas. The Taihang
Mountains afforestation project has already produced a total of 1.02
million hectares of afforested area since it was launched in 1994. The
above large-scale eco-system construction projects have gradually
improved the eco-environment in a considerable number of areas.
-- Grassland construction has made progress in the phasal sense. The
protection and management of grassland resources is reinforced by
governments at all levels in line with the Grassland Law, and activities
such as unauthorized reclamation, excessive digging and overgrazing are
forbidden. With the combined efforts of the state, the collective and
individ"iuals, grassland construction and control over grassland
desertification and deterioration have been strengthened. According to
statistics, the total area of artificially sown grass and improved
meadows has reached 11.757 million hectares, and that of fenced meadows,
8.333 million hectares. The 49 key comprehensive demonstration projects
for grassland stockbreeding constructed by the state have made great
achievements. By the end of 1994 a total of 5.638 million hectares of
artificially sown grass had been completed, which has blazed a new trail
for developing animal husbandry and ecological environmental protection
in the areas with arid and desertified land and those with serious soil
erosion.
-- Marine environmental protection has been strengthened. Marine
environmental protection is a major component of China's environmental
protection efforts, as the country has a vast maritime territory. A
series of laws and regulations concerning marine environmental protection
has been published, and a nationwide marine environment monitoring
network has been set up. Coastal waters have been divided up into zones
for administration and effective environmental management is practiced
for offshore construction projects, offshore petroleum exploitation and
wastes disposal so that marine pollution and resources destruction are
taken well in hand, and efforts have been made to prevent ``red tide''
and protect offshore fishery resources. By the end of 1995 14
national-level marine nature reserves had been set up. The water quality
in most of China's maritime zones and the surrounding ecological
environment have been basically kept in good condition.
The Chinese government has for a long time made unremitting efforts for
biodiversity conservation, formulating the China Program for Nature
Conservation and China's Action Plan for the Conservation of
Biodiversi"ity, containing the policy, strategy and key fields and
priority projects for biodiversity conservation.
China has adopted the on-site conservation and off-site preservation
methods to protect biodiversity. Currently, there are 612 national-level
rare and endangered species of flora and fauna listed as key protection
species, including 258 species of wild animals and 354 species of plants.
Artificial reproduction has been successfully implemented for more than
60 species of rare and endangered wild animals, and through propagation,
such species as David's deer, wild horse and saiga tatarica have been
re-introduced.
Establishing nature reserves is the most effective method for the in situ
conservation of wild plants and animals. By the end of 1995 799 nature
reserves of rather diversified types, covering a total area of 71.85
million hectares (or 7.19 percent of China's territory) had been
established in China. There are 99 national-level reserves, of which ten
-- Jilin's Changbai Mountains, Sichuan's Wolong, Guizhou's Fanjing
Mountains, Hubei's Shennongjia, Fujian's Wuyi Mountains, Xinjiang's Mt.
Bogda, Guangdong's Dinghu Mountains, Inner Mongolia's Xilingol, Jiangsu's
Yancheng and Yunnan's Xishuangbanna -- have been listed in the
International Network of Men and Biosphere Reserves. Another six nature
reserves -- Zhalong in Heilongjiang, Xianghai in Jilin, Boyang Lake in
Jiangxi, East Dongting Lake in Hunan, Bird Island in Qinghai and Dongzhai
Harbor in Hainan -- have been included in the list of the world's
important wetlands. At present, a total of 512 historic and scenic sites
has been designated, of which 119 are at the national level, 256 at the
provincial level and 137 at the city or county level, covering a total
area of 9.6 million hectares. Forest parks total 710, of which 248 are at
the national level. Scenic spots at Huangshan Mountain, Wulingyuan,
Jiuzhaigou and Huanglong are listed as parts of the world natural and
cultural heritage by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization. The establishment of nature reserves has put a
number of representative and typical natural eco-systems with scientific
research value as well as rare and endangered species under effective
protection.
Establishing zoological gardens, botanical gardens and various artificial
breeding centers is an effective method for off-site preservation of
various species of wild animals and plants. By the end of 1995 China had
set up 175 zoological gardens and zoological exhibition sites in public
parks, 227 artificial breeding centers for wild animals, more than 60
large botanical gardens and 255 wild plant gene and cell banks to ensure
the continuation of rare and endangered species of plants and animals,
including the giant panda, Chinese alligator, Chinese sturgeon,
white-flag dolphin, Manchurian tiger, crested ibis, Cathay silver fir,
dovetree, Cycas revoluta and camellia chrysantha tuyama. In addition,
China has established some dozen specimen centers, one gene bank and two
cell banks for wild animals, which have helped genetic polymorphism
research and preservation work. The medicinal use of and trade in
rhinoceros horn and tigerbone are strictly prohibited by the government,
and the illegal hunting of rare wild animals is severely punished by law.
The government has placed much stress on the preservation of the genetic
materials from domestic animals and fowls, as well as germ plasma
resources from crops. There are 596 species of livestock and poultry in
China, of which over 70 percent are native species. The government has
appropriated special funds for preservation of some endangered or sharply
diminishing species of livestock and poultry and established a germ
plasma gene bank for livestock forage grass. China had initially formed a
preservation system for germ plasma resources from crops, including one
national germ plasma bank for long-term preservation and a duplicate one,
23 local germ plasma banks for mid-term preservation, and 25 national
germ plasma nurseries, of which two are for test-tube culture. The germ
plasma resources of most agricultural plants in China are preserved,
including 330,000 specimens of germ plasma for various species of crops,
of which 300,000 have duplicates.
The government also attaches great importance to the environmental
protection of the Tibet Autonomous Region. The environmental quality in
Tibet today has been kept in an excellent condition. The atmospheric
environment there has attained the state's first-level quality and the
water quality of major rivers and lakes is also higher than the national
standard for the surface waters environmental quality. Forests and
grasslands are under effective preservation. The forest area in Tibet
totals 7.17 million hectares and the stumpage, 2.084 billion cubic
meters. The total grassland area amounts to 82.07 million hectares, of
which 70.77 million hectares are usable. With an elevation of 4,700
meters, Namco Lake has become a natural habitat for rare water birds like
swans, egrets and sand birds.
Viewed overall, however, many problems still exist -- the shortage of the
forest area, grassland degradation, soil erosion, desertification and
difficulties in the protection of rare and endangered species of wild
animals and plants. Thus, the further strengthening of the preservation
of the ecological environment and biodiversity remains an important task
for the Chinese government to tackle.
Chinese School on http://www.learnchinese.bj.cn
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