A FRAGILE BALANCE: OBSERVATIONS ON PROTECTING BIODIVERSITY
I. Biodiversity in China: Assessing Current Conditions
China’s biodiversity is exceptionally rich compared to that found in other countries. However, China’s biodiversity is currently under seri- ous threat. China’s rapid economic growth produces tension between the goals of economic development and environmental protection. One aspect of the problem is the increasing risks to the country’s biodiversity. These threats manifest themselves on the three key dimensions of biodiversity: ecosystem diversity, species diversity, and genetic diversity. The China Species Red List (Volume I)1 followed the IUCN Red List Category and Criteria (2001); both offer listings and assessments of the peril faced by 4,408 plants and 5,809 animals in China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. This comprehensive examination of fl ora and fauna at risk of endangerment and/or extinction provides a new understanding of the current biodiversity situation in China. This assessment shows that the percentage of species under threat in China is much higher than previ- ously reported, particularly the percentage of endangered plants. In previous assessments, threatened species accounted for 2–30% of total species. For instance, the percentages of threatened species in the China National Report of Biodiversity2 published in 1998 are 22.06% of mammals, 14.63% of birds, 4.52% of reptiles, 2.46% of amphibians, 2.41% of fi sh, 28% of gymnosperms, and about 13% of angiosperms, respectively. But the new assessment reveals that the percentages of threatened (i.e. critically endangered, endangered and vulnerable) inver- tebrate species is 34.74%; near-threatened species make up 12.44% of the total. Among vertebrates the percentages are 35.92% and 8.47%;
1 Wang Song, Xie Yan et al., China Species Red List (Volume I: Red List) (Beijing: Higher Education Press, 2004). 2 The State Environmental Protection Administration, China National Report on Bio- diversity, (Beijing: China Environmental Science Press, 1998). 268 xue dayuan and xie yan for gymnosperms 69.91% and 21.23%; and 86.63% and 7.22% for angiosperms. Most of these threats arise as a result of human exploitation of natu- ral resources: felling wild forests, uprooting and damaging natural veg- etation, reclaiming grasslands, overgrazing pastures, infi lling wetlands, and over-fi shing in rivers, lakes, and seas. Additionally, pollution caused by improper disposal of industrial waste and usage of agricultural chemicals has further damaged both natural and farmland ecosystems. Mining and extraction activities often cause devastating habitat destruc- tion effecting numerous plant and animal species. Still other species are endangered and on the verge of extinction due to hunting, poaching, and use of questionable and illegal fi shing technologies. The State Forestry Administration of China (SFA) organized a nationwide National Survey on Key Protected Wild Plants between 1996 and 2000. This fi ve-year survey conducted a national census of 191 wild plant species. The survey showed that 71% were in no danger. The report offered encouraging fi ndings on at least two fronts. First is the rediscovery of Thuja sutchecenensis in the Daba Mountain Area in Chongqing Municipality after a century of not being found in the wild. This discovery landed the plant on the World Conservation Union’s critically endangered list. Second is the discovery of new habitat for the White-berry Yew, Pseudotaxus chienii, and Tsoongiodendron odorum Chun (Tsoong’s Tree). The report also paints a stark picture of endangerment for many species: twelve species of woody plants including, Carpinus putoensis Cheng, were found to each have only 1–10 individual plants surviving in their original wild habitats. Among another nine species, including Parakmeria omeiensis Cheng, researchers found only 11–100 individual plants surviving in their original habitats. Eighty-fi ve key protected wild plants species had fewer than 50,000 surviving individuals; note that this comprises 44.5%—or close to half—of the 191 species under study. Perhaps most troubling is that researchers failed to fi nd any specimens of Betula halophila Ching and two other plant species on the list. In short, the situation for these plants is extremely grave. In 1995, the State Forestry Administration (formerly the Ministry of Forestry) initiated one of the largest surveys since the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) of the country’s wild fl ora and fauna. It lasted fi ve years, cost tens of million yuan and focused on 252 highly endangered species (including 153 nationally protected species) that humans consume. The results showed that 34 species—all on the