Report On the State of the Environment In China
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Biodiversity

The Biodiversity in China was continuously damaged by nature and human activities. The natural eco-system kept degrading. The degree of habitat loss and broken was accelerated. The number of many species kept decreasing. The genetic resources were seriously damaged and lost. The impact of invasive alien species towards biodiversity was more and more serious.

State

Species China is the country with richest biodiversity in the world. There are 6347 types of vertebrates. Among that, there are 499 kinds of beasts, 1244 types of birds, 376 kinds of reptiles, 279 kinds of amphibians, 3862 kinds of fish. There are 30 thousand kinds of higher plants ( 17.3 thousand kinds of endemic higher plants ), among which 2200 kinds of bryophyte and 2600 kinds of pteridophyte. 

In recent years, the invasive alien species, such as water hyacinth, smooth cord-grass, crofton weed, mile-a-minute weed, have made serious damage towards China’s biodiversity and eco-environment and caused enormous economic loss. 

Nature Reserves By the end of 2002, there were 1757 nature reserves in China with the total area of 132.95 million hectares, accounting for 13.2% of the country’s land area. The number of national level nature reserves was 188 and the area was 60.42million hectares. 

Wetland There are 31 types of natural wetland and 9 types of artificial wetland. The major types include natural and artificial wetlands as swamp wetland, lake wetland, river wetland, estuary wetland, beach wetland, shallow sea area, reservoir, ponds and rice paddy fields. There are about 101 families of wetland vegetation and about 8200 types of wetland species. The area of wetland nationwide was around 65.94 million hectares ( excluding rivers and ponds ), accounting for 10% of the area of wetland in the world, ranking the first in Asia and fourth in the world. The area of natural wetland was 25.94 million hectares, including 11.97 million hectares of marsh swamps, 9.1 million hectares of natural lakes, 2.7 million hectares of tidal beaches, and 2.7 million hectares of shallow sea areas. The area of artificial wetland was 40 million hectares, including around 2 million hectares of reservoirs and 38 million hectares of rice paddy fields. 

Chinese government has identified 11 types of water fouls for national first level protection and 22 types of water fouls for national second level protection. The typical wetland eco-system has been well conserved.

Measures and Actions

Investigation on Situation of Eco-environment in Middle-eastern Region of China Following the investigation on the state of the eco-environment in western regions, in 2002, SEPA, jointly with State Cartography Bureau, Ministry of Land Resources and State Statistics Bureau, carried out investigation of the state of eco-environment in 19 provinces and municipalities in middle and eastern part of China. 

Construction of Ecological Demonstration Areas By the end of 2002, The number of national ecological demonstration sites had reached to 315. 82 demonstration sites had been examined, commissioned and designated as the national level ecological demonstration sites. The construction of pilot ecological provinces in Hainan, Jilin and Helongjiang was started in an all-round way. Fujiang province was approved to be the fourth pilot ecological province. 

Construction of Ecological Functional Conservation Areas (EFCAs) National level reviewing committee for ecological functional conservation areas reviewed 12 areas being planned for the establishment of EFCAs. They are Hei River Basin, Northern Yin Mountain and Keeqin Desert, Sanjiang Plain, Boyang Lake, Dong River Source, mountainous area of north-west part of Hubei province, Dongting Lake, Ruoegai-maqu , Yangze River Source, Yellow River Source, Talimu Lake and Qinling Mountain. 

List of the First Batch of Invasive Alien Species in China SEPA and China Academy of Sciences conducted the study and promulgated the list of 16 types of invasive alien species, named as crofton weed, mile-a-minute weed, alligator week, bitterweed, smooth cord-grass, fragrant eupatorium, water hyacinth, Johnson grass, banana moth, lobdelly pine mealybug, red turpentine beetle, fall webworm, giant African snail, apple snail, bull frog.

Conservation of Mangrove Forest By the end of 2002, there were 9 provincial level nature reserves for mangrove forest with the area of 76 square kilometers. Severe deforestation and irrational use of mangrove forest were prohibited. Afforestation of mangrove was carried out. 

Special Action to Fight Against Destruction of Forest and Wild Life From March 1 to April 30, 2002, the State Forestry Administration carried out the campaign to investigate and prosecute significant criminal cases. During the campaign, the forest public security bureaus nationwide investigated and prosecuted 29.37 thousand cases of various types. The total number of criminals being prosecuted according to the law was 32,678. 55,379 cubic meter of timber was confiscated. The State Forestry Bureau carried out Migratory Bird Action from December 16 to 25, 2002, in 14 provinces and municipalities, named as Beijing, Liaoning, Hebei, Shandong, Henan, Anhui, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Shanghai, Jiangsu and etc. During the campaign, 107,968 live birds were confiscated. The captured bird products weighed 9403 kilograms. 57 illegal guns, 6843 sets of hunting tools and 24 vehicles were confiscated.