1. Introduction
In the 1997 report of the BWG, the working group presented a work plan for the five year period of the second phase of CCICED. We also reported on the shortage of funds felt by the working group and the need to identify additional funding to undertake some of the activities on the work plan. As anticipated in the 1998 report of the working group, the financial situation has been very weak, and many of the planned activities for the year were not done.
Nevertheless, the working group has achieved good progress in several areas and looks forward to an active programme for the rest of the second phase of CCICED. New sources of funding have been identified, and the group is confident that adequate funding will be realised to complete our 5year programme.
2. Membership of the Working Group
Some changes were made to the membership of the Working Group. Dr. Peter Raven decided to step down from the group. Prof. John MacKinnon has decided to step down as Cochair of the group, and Dr. Peter Schei has replaced him in the Cochair position. John will remain a member of the working group. Mr. Jim Harkness, formerly of the Ford Foundation, has been appointed as the new WWF Representative in China and has replaced his predecessor Mr. Dan Viederman as a member of working group. These changes have been formally approved by the CICED Secretariat. The Chinese membership of the group remains unchanged.
3. Terms of Reference
Terms of Reference of the Working Group remain unchanged. These are:
1) Create a fertile forum for exchange of ideas and approaches whereby China has access to wider experience beyond her borders and where managers can network with scientists and technicians to solve issues of policy, strategy and action in the field of Biodiversity Conservation.
2) Provide a mechanism whereby priority needs identified by scientists and technicians can be brought to the attention of relevant leaders and decisionmakers through a multisectoral forum.
3) Provide an independent view of China's biodiversity and advise the government on areas of concern or sectoral failure.
4) Provide advice and assistance as needed in China's participation in international biodiversity conventions and programs to ensure that China gets maximal benefit from these mechanisms and also presents the most favourable international image of its considerable biodiversity achievements.
5) Initiate studies to demonstrate the contribution of biodiversity conservation to regional economic development in selected ecosystems in China and identify both factors that threaten such systems and appropriate remedies to ensure the sustainability of such benefits.
4. Summary of Activities of BWG in 1999.
Following the order of activities presented in the BWG workplan, the following progress was made during the current reporting year.
4.1 Biodiversity Working Group meetings
Two official meetings of BWG were held during the past year. The first one was a small Chinese Members Meeting, which held on 11 March, 1999 in Beijing.The recommendations to the State Council for the 10th Five Year Plan were drafted in the meeting. The second one was combined with the sectoral meeting in Guangdong in August 1999. The meeting completed the report on the field visits and sectoral meeting in Guangdong, finalised the annual report for CCICED for 1999, completed recommendations to the State Council for the 10th Five Year Plan, and laid out the plans for group activities for the year 2000.
4.2 Targeted sectoral meetings
The Biodiversity Working Group of the CCICED held a Workshop on Biodiversity Conservation in Guangdong Province from 17-22 August 1999.Guangdong Province has a high proportion of China's biodiversity as well as a large human population.In addition, Guangdong has experienced explosive economic growth and development during the last few decades.
As part of the workshop, groups were privileged to visit several nature reserves (Dinghushan Man & Biosphere Reserve, Nankunshan Nature Reserve and NeilingdingFutien National Nature Reserve) as well as the Xinyan Wildlife Market, Huadu Yingjili Peacock Farm, Nanhai Bird Farm, Wutongshan Nursery, Xiangjiang Wildlife Park and Shenzhen Wildlife Park.The people from these facilities were extremely gracious hosts and patiently answered all questions.
Two days of meetings with national, international and regional experts and authorities, covered many valuable presentations and resulted in lively and frank discussions. A full report was prepared and submitted to the provincial authorities and is appended as Annex 1 to this report.
The BWG were impressed by the great work that has been done by the provincial authorities in the field of biodiversity conservation and the ambitious plans for further strengthening the protected area system and measures to control the trade and use of wildlife.
The BWG team is concerned by the high levels of utilisation of wildlife and question the sustainability of this utilisation, and noticed some areas in protected areas management that could be improved. In addition the BWG were alarmed at reports that some species of carnivore and raptors may be extinct over wide areas of the province.
4.3 Illustrated guidelines for biodiversity conservation in economic development
Compilation of the illustrated book——Guidelines for the Conservation of Biodiversity
The value of biodiversity, especially the indirect value from ecological services, has increasingly attracted the attention of the public and government. The heavy floods during the last two summers in China provided people with a harsh lesson in the cost of biodiversity loss. In order to ensure that the public as well as decision
makers realise the significance of biodiversity conservation and push the movement forward, we invited several scientists to compile the illustrated book, Guidelines for the Conservation of Biodiversity. The text and drawings for the book have been completed, but the book needs circulation for comments before going to press. It is hoped that the book can still be published by the end of this year.
4.4 Biodiversity Conservation Database
The checklist for birds has been reviewed by Dr. John MacKinnon; reptiles, by Prof. Zhao Ermi; and amphibians, by Prof. Fei Liang.The checklist for mammals was reviewed by Dr. Robert Hoffmann and Prof. Wang Sung, but more work needs to be done on the bats and rodents.The Biodiversity Conservation Database is now using the newest taxonomic classification for these four vertebrate groups.
More functions have been added into the China Species Information System (CSIS) to assist with the recall of data.Distribution information at the county level is still being entered based on faunistic works at both state and regional levels and from major journals in the fields of Zoology, Taxonomy, Mammalogy, and Biodiversity.Results of scientific surveys concerning species and distributions at regional levels or in reserves are also being quoted and entered.Locality records of mammal specimens in the National Museum of Natural History, USA, are also now entered in the system.By August, 1999, historical records at the county level have been expanded to 120,000.The distribution and synonym information for Insectivora have been carefully checked and corrected.Nearly 1,800 river names and GIS data have been combined into CSIS.The number of records for river distribution of fresh water fish is now more than 40,000.All this distribution information has been transferred into GIS points and lines, and can be shown on GIS maps with a background of China or of individual provinces.At the same time, a total number of about 1,300 photos of mammals, birds and reptiles has been scanned into their respective databases.
The local network was upgraded in early 1999 from Novell to Windows NT, a PII/333 server has replaced the 486 server, and two 586 PCs have replaced two 486 PCs.Five persons could operate CSIS at the same time.For the past six months work on the system has continued, but this has proceeded without any significant funding.Four persons have been retained to enter data, and they have worked every day for three months (January to March, 1999).This situation cannot continue without additional funding; however, there remains much work to accomplish.It is necessary to check and reorganise information in CSIS and to keep updatingthe system before it can provide the quality and accuracy of scientiic information that we desire to enhance effective biodiversity conservation in China.Also, funding is needed to put all the information available in the system on an Internet site to facilitate access.
4.5 Catchment Forest Benefits Analysis, Hubei
A Final Report of the Xingshan Catchment Study has been prepared (in English) entitled "Evaluation of Economic Value for Forest Resources in Xingshan County, Hubei Province."The report is still being revised and edited prior to submission for publication in an international journal.
4.6 Ecosystem Emergy Analysis, Pingwu, Sichuan
Progress Report on the Evaluation of Biodiversity in Pingwu County, Sichuan Province
This study was reported in the 1998 report. BWG are still awaiting a final report from the project executants.
4.7 Grassland Regional Development Plan
Upper Yangtze Integrated Conservation and Development Project (Proposal and Executive Summary Available)
To promote biodiversity conservation and sustainable development on the high alpine grasslands of the QinghaiXizang (Tibetan) plateau, the BWG has initiated a demonstration project in the upper Yangtze drainage.In conjunction with local governments and with a locally formed NGO (Upper Yangtze Organization——SuojiaTownship's and Zhiduo County's first offically established and registered people's organization), the BWG plans to develop an integrated conservation and development plan to promote biodiversity conservation and sustainable use of the alpine grasslands (primarily for animal husbandry).The project calls for establishment of three protected areas for known populations of environmentally and culturally important species (snow leopards, blacknecked cranes, and Tibetan antelope), and a demonstration area to investigate rangeland management strategies.The project will include participatory workshops, training, and capacity building as necessary to ensure that Suojia Township develops the experience to implement the project locally.The BWG will use results from this project to encourage similar activities for sustainable development and conservation throughout the alpine grassland ecosystem (an area encompassing 25% of China).
4.8Economic studies of panda tourism
BWG collaborated in studies of the economic value of biodiversity undertaken and published by the Environmental Economics Working Group. This study showed that more aggressive development and upgrading of ecotourism in particular, panda tourism in the Wolong Nature Reserve in Sichuan Province——could result in very significant profits that would not only pay for the protection activities of the reserve but release funds for much more widespread conservation activity.Part of the funds available would be in the form of a biodiversity stamp built into the airport tax levied on people leaving China, as is successfully done in Costa Rica.
4.9 Field guides to the mammals and birds of China
One of the basic tasks of biodiversity conservation is to identify taxa/species and their occurrence (bioinventory).Until now, taxonomy, distribution and status of many taxa in China, especially at the species level, still remain very unclear due to limitations on the progress of taxonomic study in China.The quality of databases on endangered species status and conservation relies on upto
date and accurate taxonomy.One of the reasons why Chinese taxonomy is in a poor state is because for many years Chinese scientists had to work in isolation and could not compare materials with museum materials in neighbouring countries or even at other institutions in China. A high level of synonymy and outdated nomenclature has resulted.
BWG has started to compile a Field Guide to China's Mammals (English and Chinese Versions) based on the latest data and information together with the newest research on taxonomy and distribution (including new techniques such as DNA and karyotype studies).During the past year, manuscript materials on the species of Insectivora (hedgehogs, shrews, moles, etc.) and Pholidota (pangolins) have been created, including keys to orders and families of all Chinese mammals, keys to families and genera of insectivores, and keys to species of redtoothed shrews (Sorex, Soriculus), whitetoothed shrews (Crocidura), moles (Talpidae) and hedgehogs (Erinaceidae).Distributional records for these species of insectivores in CSIS have been collected and geocoded, and new distribution maps produced.Work is continuing on individual species accounts.It is hoped that the book will be an important reference for research, management and conservation of Chinese mammalian fauna, as well as to ecotourism based on China's mammals.
Prof. John MacKinnon has meanwhile completed the Chinese bird field guide. Thisis now in press and will be published in early 2000 by Oxford University Press, UK. A grant has been secured by the BWG through IUCN to publish a Chinese language edition of this book. More than half the book has been translated, and this work will be completed by the end of the year. A publisher has been contacted, and it is hoped that the Chinese edition will be also released in the first half of 2000.
4.10 Wildlife trade survey at the border in Yunnan Province
Two reports, 'Preliminary survey on wildlife transfrontier trade in Yunnan' and 'The status of live wildlife trade near the port areas in Yunnan', have been submitted by the wildlife trade monitoring team in Yunnan province.
Yunnan province borders Burma, Vietnam, and Laos. One of the main threats to wildlife protection in Yunnan is the wildlife trade, in both live animals and their products, across the borders.Our study was carried out from May 1998 to March 1999.
There are 17 international ports in Yunnan province: 5 primary ports——Kunming, Ruili, Wangding, Hekou, Mengla (Mohan); and 12 secondary ports——Longchuan, Yingjiang, Tengchong, Jinhong, Daluo, Simao, Menglian, Mengding, Nansan, Piema, Malipo and Jiping.So far the ports of Ruili, Wangding, Longchuan, Daluo, Hekou, Mengla (Mohan) have been surveyed.
Our investigation found that the trade is very easy between the borders of Yunnan and neighbouring countries.Even though there are laws to protect the wildlife, live wildlife and their products are still traded across the borders. Local people smuggle wildlife via rivers or across hills into China and such shipments are not checked or quarantined by customs.
Wildlife has long been used as food, as medicines, for pets and for raw materials. We surveyed the markets, wildlife collecting stations and centres of Yunnan Provincial Forestry Bureau, restaurants, drugstores and pet trade markets in each port. Wildlife and their products imported to Yunnan from neighbouring countries were identified. So far 134 species of wildlife have been found for sale including 54 species of birds belonging to 11 orders and 17 families; 33 species of mammals belonging to six orders and 16 families; and 47 species of reptiles belonging to three orders and 14 families.
The wildlife came from Burma, Laos and Vietnam (or indirectly from Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal, India and other adjacent countries) and were destined to be transported to several provinces in China, although some of them were for local consumption. The majority of consumption of the wildlife is for food.Many restaurants have been selling different kinds of wildlife as special dishes and medicinal liquor.Although selling wildlife food and liquor is prohibited by the government, it is very difficult to control. Wildlife dish names were listed in the menus of the restaurants in Hekou area, while in other port areas, even though they may not appear on menus, wildlife dishes can still be obtained.Many of these species are listed in the Appendices of the "Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora"(CITES), and the "Animals under State's Special Protection" (ASSP).
Yunnan Provincial Forestry Bureau adopted a new policy to set up wildlife refuges to deal with the huge mount of wildlife confiscated during illegal exports and imports. The ports of Ruili, Wangding and Longchuan have refuges to keep live animals imported from Burma.In the wildlife refuge in Ruili, people from the refuge can take over or purchase the wildlife, then the wildlife will be allocated and resold to other places.
Yunnan ports are centralised and act as transfer stations for wildlife transfrontier trade. There are two ways to smuggle wildlife across the port.One is through big domestic and foreign traders who import large quantities of wildlife and then transfer the shipments to other provinces through Yunnan; the other is public or underground selling centres that collect scattered wildlife goods which local people bring in illegally, and then resell them to other provinces.
Several recommendations are made to address this high level of illegal wildlife trade:
The population dynamics of wildlife besides rare and endangered species which have been involved in the trade should be monitored to avoid overexploitation of wildlife resources.
It is urgent for governments of China and neighbouring countries to cooperate in the control of crossborder wildlife trade.
Enforcement of wildlife protection should be strengthened in Yunnan ports.
Training of customs officers and port managers is necessary, particularly in basic knowledge of zoology, taxonomy, and ecology, as well as the wildlife protection laws.
Releasing exotic wildlife to Yunnan native habitats must be prohibited.
Public awareness concerning wildlife conservation needs to be improved.
The trade studies in Yunnan augment the findings of earlier studies by BWG in Guangxi, Macao, Hong Kong, Guangdong and Shenzhen and the BWG field visits to markets in Hainan and Guangdong. The findings confirm that the scale of the problem is very great and that wildlife trade networks are complex, dynamic and reaching ever further beyond China's borders. Studies of trade routes in neighbouring countries undertaken by TRAFFIC and WWF also confirm these findings and the alarm that is felt by China's neighbours over the scale of this trade.
The fact that China must import wildlife from ever greater distances is evidence that the trade is unsustainable. The fact that protected species continue to cross the border points but do not emerge in the public markets indicates that there is a separate underground trade in protected wildlife.
Two issues are involved: firstly, the fate of the many wildlife species involved in this trade and secondly, the image and reputation of China as an environmentally responsible member of the global community. The second matter will have a much greater impact on China's development and international trade. It is important that the authorities get on top of this problem. BWG welcomes the idea of the Guangdong authorities to limit wildlife trade to only a small number of the many transborder trade gates, and hope that this can be extended also to the borders of Guangxi and Yunnan. BWG would also recommend a temporary moratorium of all transfrontier wildlife imports into the three provinces to allow stocktaking in the source countries whilst China puts in place the controls necessary to regulate such trade.
5. Five Year Work Plan of BWG
The proposed work plan remains unchanged, but completion of the activities listed will be dependent upon finding some way to continue funding the operation of the working group.
One priority new activity was proposed in our 1998 report.In view of the disastrous floods that affected China during 1998, we proposed to pull together the findings of previous work and experience on such flooding with international examples and prepare a special report for the Council entitled "The Use of Natural Vegetation in the Control of Floods".
China has again experienced a summer of disastrous floods, although the rainfall has not been outside normal patterns. The cause of the floods seems to be both that the vegetation sponge which holds back rainwater, improves soil penetration and uses water for transpiration has been reduced to critical levels, and that at the same time the siltation of lakes and riverbeds (also due largely to deforestation) has blocked the drainage system, preventing the swift dispersal of flood waters. The BWG is convinced that better protection of remaining original forests and better design of newly planted forests can have a major effect in reducing the damage from floods and in improving the flow of water in seasons of reduced rainfall. BWG have not had the funding needed to undertake the planned studies, literature surveys and experiments needed to make the planned report for the Council, but feel this is an urgent task and hope to undertake this project as soon as funding is secured.
Work Plan for 1999-2000
The following activities are therefore proposed for the coming year.
Special Report Concerning the 1998/99 floods followup study and recommended actions
Start preparation of demonstration provincelevel Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan
Continue development of the CSIS database
Red List and Application of New Criteria to Chinese Animals / Species Survival Action Plan
Wildlife survey and monitorin
Assessment of invasive species and their impact on biodiversity conservation Mammal and Bird Guides
* High Alpine Grassland Studies
Demonstration project in Sustainable Utilisation
6.Publications of BWG
Preliminary survey on wildlife transfrontier trade in Yunnan (in Chinese and English) Wang Zhijun, Wu Delin and Chen Huojie
The status on live wildlife trade near the port areas in Yunnan (in Chinese and English) Wang Zhijun, Chen Huojie and Wu Delin
Review on wildlife utilization and trade in China (in Chinese) Xie Yan
The plateau pika (Ochotona curzoniae) is a keystone species for biodiversity on the Tibetan plateau(Animal Conservation 2, 1999) Smith, Andrew T. and J. Marc Foggin
IUCN Chinese Newletter (issue 5-9) (in Chinese) Wang Sung et al(ed.)
IUCN Guidelines for Reintroductions (in Chinese and English) Xie Yan (translated)
The dynamics of trade in live wildlife across the Guangxi border between China and Vietnam during 1993-1996 and its control strategies (Biodiversity and Conservation 7, 895-914, 1998) Li Yiming and Li Dianmo
7.Funding of BWG Activities
The abovementioned activities have received assistance from CCICED, MOF, NEPA and SOA, and also financial assistance from CIDA, WWF and IUCN/World Bank.As shadow ministers of BWG, Council members of CCICED, Claude Martin, and Maritta R. von Bieberstein Koch Wesser, have provided assistance to the work of BWG.We sincerely appreciate the assistance of these sources of support.Proposals have been prepared and submitted to a variety of agencies including GEF, British Government, Italian Government and Norwegian Government to cover the basic operations and project work of the working group. Preliminary responses are optimistic.
8.Major Recommendations of BWG
A summary of specific recommendations for biodiversity conservation in Guangdong are given in the summary activities in section 4 above. A fuller draft of these recommendations, as presented to the provincial authorities is appended to this report as Annex 1.
The working group was asked to submit its major recommendations to CCICED for consideration for inclusion in the 10th Five Year Plan of China. The final draft of these recommendations is appended to this report in Annex 2.
In addition, BWG wish to repeat their first recommendations of last year, since the matter remains very urgent and the recommendations remains precisely relevant
Recommendation 1:
Flood control can be achieved by taking better protection of natural vegetation in critical regions of China, particularly the catchments of the Yellow River and Yangtze River. Measures should include: Banning the logging of remaining natural forests, reducing pressure on existing forests by subsidising electricity and alternative fuel costs to local households; redirecting moneys from the beneficiaries of good water control to the individuals and agencies living and working in critical catchments responsible for ensuring good vegetation cover; reduce overgrazing on critical grassland areas; continue reforestation projects but with specific design for good "water sponge" rather than timber production (i.e. broadleaf or mixed forests rather than monocultures and too many conifers).
Recommendation 2:
It is important that China retains a good image internationally as a country of high environmental responsibility. Chinese citizens, companies and government agencies working overseas are endangering this image by embarking on environmentally damaging projects. We recommend that the government ensures that Chinese agencies embarking on potentially damaging projects have to undertake the same level of EIA for such projects as they would in China, even if the laws of the country concerned are weaker.The largescale clearing of tropical rainforests to make way for a pulp mill in Sabah,Malaysia is a potentially embarrassing case in point.
