China should intensify efforts to record the 80 percent of its
flora and fauna that remains unknown before they become extinct,
according to an American academician with the Chinese Academy of
Sciences (CAS).
Of China's abundant biological resources approximately 80
percent remains unrecorded, said Dr. Peter Raven, who also heads a
botanical garden in Missouri. About half of these were likely to be
gone within the century.
The American scientist made the statement at a two-day
international symposium held over the weekend in Kunming, capital
city of southwest China's Yunnan Province, on the bio-diversity and
bio-geology of East Asia.
Extinction of biological resources was happening all over the
world and those in China were no exception, said Dr. Raven.
He explained that there were around 10 million varieties of
eucaryon plants on earth. One hundred of the species had been made
extinct annually from 1600 to 1950. Now the extinction rate has
risen to several thousand yearly and it will increase to 10,000 by
the end of the current century, said Dr. Raven.
He cited rapid population growth as a decisive factor behind
biological extinction. He said the world population stood at 1
billion in 1750 and is likely to increase to 10 billion in 2050.
Demand for more resources from the growing population would further
threaten the survival of more flora and fauna, Raven argued.
China has established 1,757 nature reserves and plans to
increase the number to 2,500 by 2050.
To make conservation efforts more effective and efficient, Dr.
Raven suggested China should improve administration, financing and
management affairs. In the process of biological resource
conservation China has to solve problems with energy shortages,
water resources protection, rural poverty and air pollution, Dr.
Raven said.
He also suggested that China set up a digital databank of its
biological resources and establish a state-level commission to
serve as a coordinator in its biodiversity protection efforts.
The international symposium was sponsored by the CAS' Kunming
Flora Research Institute.
(Xinhua News Agency July 18, 2006)