Due to ineffective control over the disappearance of biological diversity, China now faces the difficult task of protection and conservation. Currently, the Chinese government is working hard to devise a biological diversity action program to control further ecological damage with the aid of legislation, giving priority to protecting key areas, increasing investment, and strengthening public education.

Wang Dehui, an official from the State Environmental Protection Administration, said that the number of wild plants and animals is continuously decreasing due to degeneration and damage to forests, grasslands, wetlands, rivers and lakes. Of the 640 endangered species listed by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, some 156, or one fourth, are in China.

Influenced by nonnative species, plant diseases and insect pest infestations, China's grasslands and inland coastal areas are badly damaged resulting in economic losses exceeding 50 billion yuan (US$6.05 billion) every year. Experts say that half of the 100 worst pests listed by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) are in China.

Wang said that in terms of modern biological technology, genetically engineered crops, field experiments and commercialization China lags behind only the United States and Argentina. Transgenic organisms pose a potential threat to China's biological diversity, ecological environment and people's health.

Since 85 percent of China's natural reserves are located in western parts of the country, protecting biological diversity is an important and urgent issue especially as western development projects, including the diversion of water from south to north, plans to transport gas from west to east and construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, unfold.

The Chinese government is revising its China Biological Diversity Action Program, issued in 1993, adding new contents including biological safety, the eradication of nonnative species, and the shared use of genetic resources. The government is working hard to place the protection of biological diversity at the heart of the western resource development projects, economic construction and national programs.

It is reported that environmental departments are promoting legislation for the protection of biological diversity. The legislation touches on biological safety, the eradication of nonnative species, the shared use of genetic resources, biological diversity development and public environmental education programs.

During the 10th Five-Year Plan period (2001-05), total investment made by the Chinese government for biological diversity and natural ecological environmental projects will reach 50 billion yuan (US$6.05 billion), while related national capability construction projects will amount to 10 billion yuan (US$1.21 billion).

(China.org.cn translated by Li Jingrong on December 6, 2002)