During March there was a concerted effort by UK media to demonize
China over Tibet. Of late we once again see more balanced and nice
aqrticles about China. Weird people these pommies.
Wild times in changing China
By Phil Chapma
BBC
May 8, 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7385955.stm
China is a country that in some peoples' minds has become synonymous
with industrial pollution, rigid political control and spectacular
economic expansion.
But behind this image lies another world which is the real, essential
China - a place of vast ****fting deserts, tropical coral reefs,
steaming jungles, snow-capped peaks, evergreen forests and smoking
volcanoes.
And surviving, tucked away within this incredibly diverse landscape,
is a wealth of animal and plant life.
China is home to 534 species of mammals - one eighth of the world's
total, of which more than a hundred, including iconic creatures such
as the giant panda, are endemic.
China's diverse landscape is home to a wealth of animal and plant life
The country's birdlife is also extremely rich, with more than 1,300
species, whilst there are more than 2,200 species of fishes.
China's plant life is equally spectacular, with an amazing 32,800
species of higher plants, making China the third richest country in
these terms after Malaysia and Brazil.
Many of the most beautiful cultivated plants in temperate gardens
worldwide are native to China, including azaleas, camellias,
rhododendrons and clematis.
It is also a centre of diversity for im****tant food and medicinal
plants such as peaches, oranges, walnuts, rice and liquorice.
Rural demands
As China's economy grows at breakneck pace, this is a time of massive
change in the countryside as much as in the cities.
Experts are forecasting that in the next couple of decades, more than
300 million rural people will migrate to China's Eastern seaboard in
search of better-paid jobs.
Already rural communities have lost many of their young adults who are
away working in the cities, leaving children in the care of
grandparents.
Traditional farming systems, like the terraced rice paddies which
cover the hillsides of southern China, require a huge amount of manual
labour for planting, upkeep and harvesting.
Rural communities are losing large numbers of their populations
As wage levels rise, such work is bound to become uneconomic, and
without intensive management, the paddies will not survive the annual
onslaught of monsoon rains for long.
At the same time, pressures to increase food production to meet
increasing demands from a growing urban population, and to cope with
the effluent produced by massive industrialisation and vast urban
conurbations, will inevitably pose serious environmental challenges.
As a largely rural society, the art, literature and traditions of
China have long celebrated the beauty of its landscapes, plants and
wild creatures.
The Chinese are proud of their natural riches, and many notable plants
and animals are officially protected in national parks and wildlife
reserves.
But official protection is no guarantee of safety.
In recent decades conservation has been poorly funded and protection
has been weak.
Many reserves, especially locally designated ones, have been
under-staffed.
And many workers have had little specialist training, and are
ill-equipped to deal with well-organised groups of outsiders who come
to hunt animals, mine minerals or collect plants in nominally
protected areas.
Wild hope
Illicit hunting is a particular problem, given China's long tradition
of exploiting its wild animals and plants for food and medicine.
When compared to countries such as the UK, which have already lost
most of their mega-fauna as a result of human activity centuries ago,
China has done pretty well in conserving its wildlife.
Paddy fields require a huge amount of manual labour to maintain
The world's most populous country still has iconic large mammals such
as elephants, giant pandas, snow leopards, and even a few Amur tigers.
The country was one of the first countries to ratify the Convention on
Biological Diversity, in 1993.
Since then, it has catalogued national species, created an endangered
list, shown real determination to enforce the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), and designated many
species and habitats as "protected".
There are now 2,194 nature reserves in China covering some 15% of its
territory - an area six times that of Great Britain. The world average
is 11.5%.
The rapidly growing environmental consciousness among Chinese young
people, expressed as growing sup****t for budding grass-roots
conservation organisations, provides real hope for the future.
The media in China increasingly carries environmental or
conservation-related stories, raising interest and awareness.
If the political will is there to protect its wildlife though the
current phase of economic expansion, there seems a real chance that
China's natural wonders may remain as a source of pride and wonder for
many generations to come.
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