A regional plant protection organization, the East Asia Botanic Gardens Network, was established Sunday in southwest China's Yunnan Province, aiming to promote exchanges and cooperation in botanic protection and study in the region.

 

The network met for the first time on Saturday and Sunday in Kunming, the provincial capital, attracting more than 30 delegates from Mongolia, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the Republic of Korea, Japan and China.

 

"The network wants to promote the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation, which was adopted in 2002 by the parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity," said Huang Hongwen, coordinator-general of the organization.

 

Many botanic gardens are members of the network. The network will strengthen cooperation in scientific research and plant conservation among them, said Huang, who is director of the Wuhan Botanic Garden in central China's Hubei Province.

 

All botanic garden organizations from member countries will automatically become members of the network, according to Huang. Each member country will have a coordinator to represent the country.

 

East Asia is one of the regions that boasts the highest number of botanic species in the world. China has about 30,000 higher plant species, or one tenth of the world's total.

 

The network will hold a conference every other year. The second conference will be held in the Republic of Korea in 2008.

 

(Xinhua News Agency August 22, 2006)