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2 China's biodiversity takes a
beating By Dinah Gardner
BEIJING - China may be going all out to
save the panda, but its record on protecting its
native flora and fauna took a beating last week
when the World Conservation Union (IUCN, or
International Union for the Conservation of Nature
and Natural Resources) published its latest Red
List of Threatened Species.
China has one
of the highest levels of biodiversity in the
world, yet its number of species is declining at a
frightening rate. The Swiss-based IUCN picked out
mainland China, along with Mexico, Brazil
and
Australia, as being homes to "particularly large
numbers of threatened" animals and plants.
Worldwide, it listed 16,306 species as being under
threat - almost 800 of them in China.
But
it's not just animal lovers and environmentalists
who should be worried about the trend, argue
conservation groups. Beijing should be concerned
about the heavy economic costs linked to
biodiversity loss and the fact that its political
infrastructure is ill-equipped to halting that
trend.
"The loss of biodiversity in the
short term can be seen as worth it for the gain in
the economy," said WWF (World Wide Fund for
Nature) China's head of conservation strategies,
Li Lin. "However, in the long term, the loss of
biodiversity ends up as a loss of human wealth -
the whole wealth of the country."
As a way
of putting a price on biodiversity, scientists and
environmental non-governmental organizations have
coined the term "ecosystem services". Simply put,
ecosystem services are such benefits as food
sources, clean air and water, and the regulation
of climate that are provided by "nature" and are
essential for people's well-being.
"It's
difficult to calculate the value of these
services," said Seth Cook, IUCN's China program
coordinator. "But in 1995, the China Council for
International Cooperation on Environment and
Development Biodiversity Working Group ...
estimated that the benefits and services provided
by China's biodiversity were worth between US$255
billion and $410 billion per year." That's about
10-15% of China's 2006 gross domestic product
(GDP) of $2.7 trillion.
"Whatever number
value you put on China's biodiversity, it's clear
that it supports the country's rapid economic
development and the lives of its citizens," Cook
said.
Certain industries, such as tourism,
Chinese medicine, fishing, agriculture and
logging, pay a more direct price for species loss,
he said.
Emblematic of the nation's
shrinking biodiversity is the baiji tun, a
sharp-snouted river dolphin that has plowed the
Yangtze River for 20 million years. That is, until
now. The IUCN has just downgraded its status to
"critically endangered (possibly extinct)", its
numbers decimated by pollution, loss of habitat,
fishing, and boat traffic. A possible sighting
last month means little for the survival of the
species. To all intents and purposes, the baiji
tun is as dead as a dodo.
The baiji
tun didn't stand a chance because the river is
just too important a center for industrial and
economic development, argues Xie Yan, director of
the Wildlife Conservation Society China Program
and the country's main authority on biodiversity.
"The Yangtze River is an economic base for
the whole country, and so it would have had to
have been a big decision for the government" to
intervene and save the dolphin, she said. "They
would have had to take serious action - clean up
the pollution, reduce the number of boats, control
construction along the banks, and set up protected
areas."
The country had invested too much
money in developing industries based along the
Yangtze, and that could not be stopped, Xie said.
The dolphin's demise is just the tip of
the iceberg in a pattern of loss for China's
wildlife. The root cause of species decimation in
China is hunting for food and Chinese medicine,
said Xie.
"Rural people are eating too
many endangered species," she said. "If you go to
some parts of the countryside, there are lots of
restaurants that attract customers by offering
this kind of meat."
A survey by the State
Forestry Administration (SFA) from 1995 to 2000
found that more than 252 types of wild animals
were hunted, including dozens of endangered
species. "Snares and poisoning are still very
common, even in nature reserves. And this is more
important than loss of habitat and pollution,
right now."
On paper the government looks
as if it's serious about protecting wildlife. A
map of the country showing protected areas - the
key way of preserving biodiversity - is covered in
swaths of green. As of last year, the country had
marked out 2,194 nature reserves, or some 15% of
its territory, according to the IUCN. And although
environmental non-government organizations (NGOs)
working in China are under pressure to be
diplomatic when commenting about government
policy, most are fairly adamant that the central
administration is committed to doing something
about biodiversity.
"I think the government
is putting [its] mind to protecting the
environment," said the WWF's Li, adding that she
has felt a
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