Note: NL refers to national level; PL refers to provincial level; CiL refers to city level and CL refers to county level.

Type of Nature Reserves of China in 2006

Eco System China has various kinds of terrestrial ecological systems with each kind under different climate and soils. These eco systems mainly include forest, shrubbery, grassy marshland, marshland, grassland and grassland with some trees, wilderness and tundra, a total of 595 kinds. The aquatic ecological systems include various river eco systems, lakeeco systems and marine eco systems, etc.

Species China is one of the countries with richest species in the world. Apart from fish, China has 2,619 species of vertebrates. Among them, 581 are mammals, 1331 birds, 412 reptiles and about 295 amphibious animals. There are about 30,000 species of higher plants in China. Among them, about 2,200 species are bryophytes，accounting for 9.1% of the world total. 2,200～2,600 are pteridophytes, taking up about 22% of the world total. As a country with richest gymnosperm in the world, China has around 250 species of 34 genuses of 10 families of gymnosperm, accounting for 66.6% of total species, 41.5% of total genuses and 37.8% and total families of existing gymnosperm in the world. China also has over 30,000 species of 3123 genuses of 328 families of angiosperm, taking up 75% of total family, 30% of total genuses and 10% of total species in the world. In addition, China has more than 3,000 species of insects on record.

China has many endemic species. Among vertebrate species, 667 species only exist in China, accounting for 10% of the total in China. In more than 30,000 higher plants in China, about 17,300 species are endemic, taking up over 57% of the total. Species such as Giant panda, red ibis, South China tiger, antelope, Pantholops hodgsoni, Crossoptilon mantchuricum, Chinese monal, white-flag dolphin, Yangtze alligator, dawn redwood, silver fir, dove tree, Taiwania, ginkgo, Abies beshanzuensis, Emmenopterys henryi Oliv. are all unique rare and endangered wild animals and plants in China.

Endangered Species With continuous conservation of wild animal and plant species and the protectioj and restoration of the habitats of endangered species, dramatic declining treand of most wildlife species under national key conservation program has been under effective control with gradual stable communities and population. For example, the amount of red ibis has gone up from 7 in 1981 to over 1,000 at present. In 2006, a total of 30 artifical-insemination giant pandas survived, a record high in history. There are 215 giant pandas fed by people. The amount of HainanCervus eldi went up from 26 about 30 years ago to over 1600 in 2006. Hylobates concolor in East China disappeared in 1950s reappears in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The amount of botanical gardens in China is 160. 60% higher plant species were removed to better environment for conservation.

Biodiversity of Wetlands China is one of the countries with most complete type and amounts of wetland in the world. The total area of existing wetland with size over 100 ha is 38.48 million ha (excluding that of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan)，accounting for 4% of total national land area and about 10% of total wetland area in the world, ranking No.1 inAsia and No.4 in the world. Among them, natural wetland has an area of 36.2 million ha, including 5.94 million ha coastal wetland, 8.2 million ha river-type wetland, 8.35 million ha lake-type wetland and 13.70 million ha marshland.

China has very rich wetland species. For plant, there are about 2,276 species (including sub-species classification) of 815 genuses of 101 families. In wetland wildlife species, there are more than 1,000 species (or subspecies) of fish, 122 species of reptiles, 31 species of beasts and 271 species of birds. Among them, 56 species of birds are under national major conservation program. Among 57 spcies of endangered birds in Asia, 31 species live in wetlands in China, accounting for 54%. There are 15 species of crane in the world, 9 of them are recorded living in wetlands of China, taking up 60%. There are 166 species of wild goose and duck across the world, 50 of them have their habitat in wetlands of China, accounting for 30%.

Measures and Actions

【China High Level Forum on Ecological Safety】SEPA held "China High Level Forum on Ecological Safety" on June 5, 2006 to commemorate World Environment Day. Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan attended the meeting and made an important speech titled "Conserve ecological environment, safeguard eco safety and consolidate the foundation for the development of the Chinese Nation".

【Management & Protection of Nature Reserves and Development of Eco Function Protected Areas】Seven departments of the State Council including SEPA, State Forestry Administration and Ministry of Agriculture jointly held the "Commemoration Meeting on 50-Year Development of Nature Reserves in China", Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan metb with participants and gave an important speech. In 2006 Ministry of Finance appropriated 50 million yuan special fund for the capacity building of 54 national nature reserves. SEPA issued the Measures on Supervision and Inspection on National Nature Reserves. In cooperation with relevant department it has developed the National Plan for Major Eco Function Protected Area (2006～2020). SEPA also organized the review on the following three national eco function protected areas: Gannan in Gansu Province, Dongchuan in Yunnan Province and Dongjiangyuan in Jiangxi Province.

【Conservation of Biological Species and Biodiversity】In 2006, SEPA in cooperation with the members of inter-ministry joint meeting on the conservation of biological species resources has completed the development of the National Plan for the Conservation and Utilization of Biological Species Resources, drafted the Regulations on the Administration of Biological Genetic Resources and held the 4th Inter-ministry Joint Meeting on the Conservation of Biological Species Resources. State Intellectual Property Office has amended the Patent Law and added the provision on disclosure of the source of biological genetic resources when applying for patent. General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine has drafted the Measures on the Management of Inspection and Quarantine of Entry & Exit Biological Species Resources. SEPA in cooperation with such departments as the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Agriculture, State Forestry Administration, ChineseAcademy of Sciences and State Administration on Traditional Chinese Medicine has continued focused investigations on national biological species resources and made a series of important achievements with the primary establishment of national database on biological species resources. "The Study on the Intellectual Property of Biological Resources" as one of the strategic researches on national intellectual property has met its stage objective.

Ministry of Agriculture organized the investigations on wild plant resources for agriculture in 10 provinces including Jiangxi with more than 1,700 wild species (times) under investigation. Investigators have collected, identified and made over 2,200 plant specimens and understood the current geological distribution of part of wild plant species. It has enhanced the research and development of wild plant species with agricultural value and identified Leizhou Penisular and northern part of HainanProvince as ChinaCenter for Genetic Biodiversity of Ordinary Wild Rice. It has developed 61 micro nucleus species materials representing 71% genetic biodiversity of wild soybean in China. It has established the database of wild soybean, wild rice and wheat kindred plant (including 6,708 wild soybean, 4,113 wheat kindred wild plants and 7,324 wild rice specimens). In addition, the studies on identification, evaluation, genetic positioning and clone research on high-quality resources have obtained fruteful achievements.

【Prevention and Control of the Invasion of Alien Species】In 2006, the authority carried out investigations on the invasion of hazardous alien species in 26 national nature reserves across China. The findings show that there is such invasion in all 26 nature reserves with total 131 species. Low latitude regions such as islands and tropical areas are subject to relatively severe threats with more invasion species. And high latitude regions have lighter threats with less invasive species. At present, Crofton weed (Eupatorium adenophorum Spreng) is still the most hazardous alien species in Southwest China.

The Ministry of Agriculture continued the organization and implementation of Elimination of the Hazardous Alien Species in 100 Counties of 10 Provinces, focusing on collective elimination of 8 species of alien plants with severe threats including Ambrosia artemisiifolia L.,Solidago Canadensis and crofton weed with 14.43 million mu (15 mu = 1 ha) of such plants destroyed and 530,000 mu demonstration sites on comprehensive prevention and control of such plants established.

【Implementation of International Conventions and International Cooperation】In March of 2006, the Chinese Delegation attended the 8th Conference of Parties (COP) of the Convention on Biological Convention and the 3rd COP of the Protocol on Bio-Safety held in Brazil. The 8th COP of the Convention on Biological Conventionfocused on in-depth discussion and review of such topics as island biodiversity, biodiversity in arid and semi-wet regions, initiatives on classification of global biodervisity, genetic resources acquisition and benefit sharing, publicity of Article 8(j) and relevant articles and provisions, education and public awareness, and passed 34 decisions. As a party for the first time, China attended the 3rd COP of the Protocol on Bio-safety. At this meeting, GEF/UNEP Implementation of China National Biosafety Framework won the award. SEPA in cooperation with relevant department has compiled the National Program for the Implementation of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety.

In 2006, China launched the "China Biodiversity Partnership Framework (CBPF)" and "EU－China Biodiversity Program". CBPF is a long-term project headed by SEPA and Ministry of Finance and donations from GEF and aims to establish a comprehensive and systematic cooperation mechanism for the conservation of biodiversity. As the biggest cooperation project between the Chinese Government and EU in the field of biodiversity, "EU－China Biodiversity Program" aims to establish information and monitoring system on biodiversity, enhance publicity on conservation of biodiversity and promote the development of policies, laws and regulations of China on the conservation of biodiversity through strengthening of the capacity of China in implementing the Convention on Biological Diversity.

【Ecological and Environmental Supervision and Management on Development of Natural Resources】In 2006, SEPA issued the Circular on Streamlining and Standardizing the Development of Mineral Resources, which requires environmental protection departments at different levels to enhance their awareness and make more efforts in investigating and sanction environmental infringements in the development of mineral resources. A total of 25,000 mining companies were inspected with 4,709 closed or banned and 1,461 eliminating hidden environmental risks. In view of sudden environmental accidents resulting from dam failure of tailings pond or fly-ash pond, SEPA and State Administration of Work Safety jointly issued the Circular on the Prevention of Environmental Emergencies resulting from Failure of Tailings Pond. NDRC and SEPA jointly developed the Suggestions on the Trial of Policy Measures for Sustainable Development of Coal Industry in Shanxi Province, which was approved by the State Council. It clearly requires the establishment of ecological rehabilitation compensation mechanism for coal mining. Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Land and Resources and SEPA jointly issued the Instruction on Gradual Establishment of Responsibility Mechansim for Mine Site Environmental Treatment and Ecological Rehabilitation. National Tourism Administration, SEPA and Ministry of Construction jointly held a work meeting on environmental protection for eco tourism to facilitate sustainable use of tourist resources.