Protecting endangered animal and plant resources and maintaining ecological balance is not only related to human survival and development, but also an important indicator to measure the progress of a country and nation's civilization. China attaches great importance to the construction of ecological civilization, guides its development with the concept of ecological civilization, cooperatively promotes the governance of biological diversity, and actively promotes international cooperation in wildlife protection, so as to contribute China's wisdom to the road of global ecological civilization and the construction of the earth's life community.

Make the illegal trade of wild animals nowhere to hide

Gerry, general representative of the International Fund for the protection of animals in Asia, has visited Qinghai, China many times. "In Hoh Xil, I saw wild yaks and Tibetan wild donkeys. Once, I was surprised to find that there were two Tibetan antelopes jumping and running freely outside the car window, which made people love and revere nature."

The International Fund for the protection of animals has been providing support for the Tibetan antelope patrol since 1998, and has witnessed China's active and effective actions to protect the Tibetan antelope. China has legally identified Tibetan antelope as a first-class national protected animal. Illegal hunting is strictly prohibited. China has also intensified its crackdown on poaching. It has established a number of nature reserves, strengthened anti poaching coordination mechanisms in various protection areas, and set up special protection and management agencies and law enforcement teams.

In the process of protecting the Tibetan antelope, Gerry met many dedicated and brave guardians. "In the hinterland of Hoh Xil, the guardians stay for weeks, and often encounter vehicles trapped and supplies insufficient. They have made great contributions to saving and restoring the Tibetan antelope population. "

In recent years, the nature reserve has taken a number of measures to improve the habitat quality, provide "escort" for the migration of wild animals such as Tibetan antelope, patrol day and night by ecological management and protection teams, implement temporary traffic control for wildlife crossing the Qinghai Tibet highway, and construct several wildlife passages along the Qinghai Tibet railway. With unremitting efforts, the population of Tibetan antelope in Hoh Xil has recovered from less than 20000 in 1997 to more than 70000 at present. The resources of rare wild animals such as przewalskii gazelle, white lipped deer and Tibetan wild donkey have also increased significantly.

In 2018, more than 30 global Internet enterprises, including a number of Chinese enterprises, jointly established a global alliance to combat illegal trade in wild animals and plants on the Internet with organizations such as the International Fund for the protection of animals and animals. Members of the alliance deleted more than 3 million illegal wildlife trade information in two years.

From July 1 last year to June 30 this year, China served as the rotating chairman of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an authoritative international anti money laundering organization. One of the key tasks during the rotation period is to help countries track funds for illegal wildlife trading, identify and block large-scale criminal networks that benefit from them. "China is working hard to create an online environment where there is no escape for the illegal trade of wild animals," he said

In February, China announced a total ban on illegal wildlife trading. Jido ibuprofen, director of international policy research and development of WWF, believes that biodiversity is related to human well-being and is an important basis for human survival and development. This shows the Chinese government's responsible attitude towards maintaining biosafety and ecological security.

Endangered wildlife revived

"The feathers on the back of these two birds are pure white, and the feathers on their cheeks are bright red. The occipital part of their brain is like a willow leaf, with a row of protruding feathers... " In the primary school Chinese textbook published by Beijing Normal University, "the Crested Ibis fly back" vividly tells the story of Chinese scientists looking for Crested Ibis.

Crested Ibis, known as the "Oriental gem", is a national first-class protected animal. More than 30 years ago, the wild Crested Ibis almost disappeared. In 1981, Chinese scientists found only seven wild Crested Ibis in the world in Yangxian County, Shaanxi Province, which rekindled the hope of saving the Crested Ibis.

Yoshiro Mori, a Japanese wildlife conservation expert, is a witness and participant of the cooperation between China and Japan in protecting the Crested Ibis. He served as the chief consultant of the Japanese expert group of the project "regional environmental construction in which man and Crested Ibis coexist harmoniously". He has worked in China for five years. "China has made remarkable achievements." In Mori's opinion, the Chinese government attaches great importance to wildlife protection, based on the national conditions, respects science, and makes great contributions to the conservation of Crested Ibis genes.

According to mori, everyone in Yangxian knows and cherishes the crested ibis, and many of them are local people engaged in the protection of Crested Ibis. Under the guidance and training of experts, they carry out scientific work, publicize and collect relevant information. In order to avoid the damage to Crested Ibis caused by pesticide use, the local government actively promoted the concept of "Ecological County, circular development", introduced ecological compensation system, and made great efforts to achieve sustainable development.

Today, more than 5000 Crested Ibis have been bred, and they have also flown overseas to become ambassadors of friendship. China has sent experts and technicians to Japan for many times to teach the breeding technology of Crested Ibis, and Japan has reestablished the artificial population of Crested Ibis. In July 2019, Hanzhong City of Shaanxi Province, Changning County of South gyeongshang road of South Korea and Sato city of Niigata Prefecture of Japan jointly signed a memorandum of cooperation, and decided to actively promote the cooperation of Crested Ibis to make it a sustainable and institutionalized trilateral cooperation platform.

"China has set an example of coexistence of wildlife conservation and regional development. It is a common task for us to protect rare wild animals. We hope that all countries can learn from China's experience and organically integrate ecological protection with economic and social development. " Mori said.

Contribute Chinese wisdom to the protection of global biodiversity

There is a rhombic capsule lotus, parasitic one legged gold, long flower horse (melon cross) These "rare words" are the important findings of the Chinese scientific research team of the China Africa Joint Research Center in Africa. In early November, the team discovered a new species of Cucurbitaceae (Cucurbitaceae) in the Western Forest of Kenya, which was considered as "of great significance for reconstructing the phylogenetic framework of the genus".

China Africa Joint Research Center is the first large-scale comprehensive scientific and educational institution jointly built by China and Africa. Five years ago, the center started the compilation and research of flora of Kenya in cooperation with the National Museum of Kenya. This is the first time that Chinese scientists have presided over the compilation of overseas national flora. It is estimated that it will take 10 to 15 years to collect more than 7000 species of Kenyan plants.

The scientific examination work is very hard. It is not only inconvenient for transportation, but also threatened by the attack of large wild animals. Wang Qingfeng, an expert at the center, said: "small ticks also bring a lot of trouble. At the end of the expedition, every member of the team was covered with tick bites

"The center has opened up new ways to protect plant diversity in Africa." Geoffrey mwacara, a researcher involved in compiling the flora of Kenya National Museum, said that African plants are diverse and have unique research value, but talents and technology are limited. Chinese scientists have devoted their efforts to helping Kenya to carry out relevant research and compilation work. "Many findings have filled in the gaps in plant resources research in East Africa and are of great significance."

Since its establishment for more than eight years, the China Africa Joint Research Center has achieved fruitful results. It has launched 48 cooperative research projects, carried out 60 large-scale field scientific investigations with African cooperative units, jointly published 8 academic works and 321 research papers, trained 222 graduate students and trained more than 600 management and professional technical personnel for African countries.

The center also actively cooperated with Zimbabwe, Madagascar and other countries in the implementation of wildlife protection demonstration system, and cooperated with local scientists to carry out scientific investigation in wild nature reserves and key areas of biodiversity distribution. "China has provided firm support for us to carry out biodiversity research and wildlife conservation, and helped Africa create a new era of wildlife conservation," said muno dawafa, Permanent Secretary of Zimbabwe's Ministry of environment and tourism

Source: China Environment News