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by Charlotte Hicks, charlottehicks@iucn.org.cn
Countdown 2010 partners at launch in Beijing
Countdown 2010 in China: communicating the importance of biodiversity
Launched in September 2007, the Countdown 2010
initiative is bringing together organizations in China
to communicate the urgent need to halt the loss of
biodiversity.
Biodiversity in China
China is one of the world's centres of megadiversity1, by
virtue of the numbers of taxa found in the country and of
the number of endemic species represented. The country
is host to nearly 15% of the world's mammals, 14% of its
birds, 18% of its fishes, and 12% of its vascular plants. It is
also an important source of domesticated species diversity:
for example, about 600 varieties of dryland crops2.
China's biodiversity supports not only the health and
wellbeing of its citizens, but also the country's economic
development. While the benefits and services provided
by biodiversity cannot be precisely calculated, in 1995
the China Council for International Cooperation on
Environment and Development (CCICED) Biodiversity
Working Group estimated that in China they were worth
between US$255 and US$410 billion per year3.
China's species richness and the vulnerability of its
biodiversity are demonstrated in its hotspots - four of the
34 hotspots identified by Conservation International (CI)
are in or extend into China. A hotspot must contain at
least 1,500 species of vascular plants as endemics and to
have lost at least 70% of its original habitat4.
Biodiversity under threat
China's natural capital is severely threatened. The global
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (2007) found
China to have a large number of species in danger of
extinction; of the 2,882 Red-List assessed species found in
China, over a quarter are considered Threatened (classed as
Vulnerable, Endangered or Critically Endangered)5.
With its large population and growing economy, China
represents big opportunities and big challenges for
sustainable development. Although China's sustained GDP
growth in the last decade has lifted millions of Chinese
out of poverty and created one of the world's strongest
economies, the 2005 Environmental Sustainability
Index6 ranked China 133rd out of 146 countries. Rapid
economic growth and lax environmental governance has
resulted in widespread pollution and habitat destruction,
threatening China's rivers, forests and arable land, and
having a severe impact on biodiversity.
Bird Island, Qinghai
Province, one of China's protected areas |
As well as habitat loss, the consumption of endangered
wildlife and alien invasive species continue to have an
impact on China's declining biodiversity. Yunnan Province,
one of China's richest provinces in terms of biodiversity, has
432 documented freshwater fish species, of which about
one third are either threatened or already extinct. Overfishing,
dam construction, water pollution and invasive
alien species have also been linked to local extinctions and
population reductions. For example, by the early 1970s,
more than 30 alien fish species had been introduced into
Yunnan's Dianchi Lake, while the number of indigenous
species declined from 25 in the 1940s, to 15 in 1978 and 8
in 19822. Meanwhile Elizabeth Economy notes the case of
slowly starving monkey populations around Shenzhen, as
local banana trees that have traditionally supplied them are
losing the battle against an alien plant species, the South
American Climber8.
Changing policy focus
The Central Government, as well as civil society,
increasingly recognizes the environmental and health costs
of China's development model, and recent government
policies and statements have emphasized the need to
protect the environment as well as grow the economy.
The Chinese government and World Bank analyses suggest
that if inequality and sustainability issues are not addressed,
economic growth could falter9.
At the national level, the growing importance attached
to environmental issues and biodiversity is clearly
demonstrated in both legislation and rhetoric. China's
11th Five-Year Plan, for 2006-2010, includes an ambitious
vision for "harmonious development". On May 22nd
2007, International Biodiversity Day, a representative of
China's State Environmental Protection Administration
(SEPA) called for biodiversity to be "regarded as a key
performance indicator.10" Relevant ministries and agencies,
such as those responsible for environmental protection,
forestry, construction and agriculture, have also developed
numerous policies and initiatives aiming to mitigate
biodiversity loss in China.
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