[Forge ahead in a new journey and make contributions to a new era and great changes]
Guangming Daily reporter Zhang Lei
In 2021, a group of wild Asian elephants from Xishuangbanna will migrate all the way north to Kunming.
Under the flexible guidance and careful care of the local government, they finally "wandered" outside for several months and crossed the Yuanjiang River to the south and returned to their homes.
The bold behavior of this group of land "Big Macs" has attracted the attention of the world.
A Japanese media made a special program to introduce the hundreds of kilometers of "fantastic travel" in detail, saying that "the Xishuangbanna Nature Reserve has not set up barriers like wild zoos, and the elephant family will not be stopped when they go out. , the Chinese government's care for migrating elephants is impressive."
And netizens said: "Walking and eating, strolling all the way, the elephant journey interprets what it means to build a community of life on earth."
Obviously, the "wild elephant northward movement" incident has become a vivid example of my country's promotion of harmonious coexistence between man and nature.
It is a microcosm, witnessing China's efforts to protect biodiversity, and also showing the world the remarkable achievements China has made in the construction of ecological civilization.
Protect natural ecosystems and biological resources with solid actions
Data from the State Forestry and Grassland Administration shows that through years of protection, the wild population of Asian elephants in my country has increased from 180 in the 1980s to about 300 at present.
Judging from the path that the elephants traveled north this time, experts believe that these places are rich in plant diversity, forests are formed into patches, and the ecological environment is good. move possible.
Biodiversity is related to human well-being and is an important foundation for human survival and development.
On September 30, 2020, Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered an important speech via video at the United Nations Biodiversity Summit, stating: "We must stand at the height of being responsible to human civilization, respect nature, conform to nature, protect nature, and explore the relationship between man and nature. The road of harmonious coexistence promotes the coordination and unity of economic development and ecological protection, and jointly builds a prosperous, clean and beautiful world.”
The unity of knowledge and action, stop at the perfection.
In recent years, my country has continuously promoted the construction of nature reserves, launched the pilot project of the national park system, built a system of nature reserves with national parks as the main body, identified priority areas for biodiversity conservation, and protected important natural ecosystems and biological resources. Played an active role in maintaining habitat for important species.
At this moment, countless Chinese are taking practical actions to guard their beautiful homeland: in the Baima Snow Mountain in Yunnan, the Yunnan golden monkeys are jumping freely in the forest, and the monkey guard Yu Jianhua shuttles through the dense forest to guard these lovely "Snow Mountain Elves"; For decades, Wang Mingwu has been "floating" on the Yangtze River, but he has changed from a fisherman who swayed a boat and cast a net to a fish guard who rode a boat to patrol; the Saihanba Forest Farm in Hebei Province was once a wasteland. Tensioned, watching Lin Hai's safety...
From the south to the north, from the inland to the seashore, more and more rare birds and beasts and exotic flowers and plants have begun to return, showing the wonder of nature and the beauty of ecology——
In Bawangling Nature Reserve, Hainan, the wild population of black crested gibbons has grown from two groups of less than 10 40 years ago to five groups of 35 today.
Remember the Siberian tiger "Wandashan No. 1" that "entered the village" last year?
It was the first wild Siberian tiger rescued and released in my country.
After Jilin and Heilongjiang actively promoted the pilot construction of the Northeast Tiger and Leopard National Park, the situation of "tiger and leopard hidden deep in the forest" is taking shape.
The roof of the world, the snow-covered plateau, and the wild population of Tibetan antelopes have recovered from 60,000 to 70,000 in the early 1990s to about 300,000 now. For this reason, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has raised the protection level of Tibetan antelope from "endangered". ' downgraded to 'Near Threatened'.
The protection and restoration of wetlands in the Yellow River Delta has also achieved remarkable results. The natural vegetation coverage in the reserve has reached 55.1%, the species of insects have increased from 478 to 512, and the species of birds has increased from 187 when the nature reserve was first established to 370 today. .
"Through the establishment of a scientific and rational nature reserve system, 90% of terrestrial ecosystem types and 71% of national key protected wild animal and plant species have been effectively protected." In October 2021, the State Council Information Office released "China's Biodiversity" Protection" white paper pointed out.
Create a "boat of life" for rare and endangered animals and plants
In this vibrant land of China, the mammals that can complete long-distance wild migrations are not only Asian elephants.
On November 6, 2013, the two-year-old female giant panda "Zhang Xiang" was born at the Bifengxia Base in Ya'an of the China Conservation and Research Center for Giant Pandas. After receiving wild training, she was released into the wild in Sichuan Liziping Nature Reserve.
In April 2016, it moved to the adjacent Yele Nature Reserve by dragging the Wushan Ecological Corridor, and then crossed the 108 National Highway to reach the small population area of the lime kiln giant panda in the Xiaoxiangling Mountains.
Infrared camera records show that "Zhang Xiang" successfully completed the migration between two relatively independent local populations, becoming the first released giant panda found to move across the reserve.
In recent years, my country has continued to increase the protection of giant panda populations, and achieved breakthroughs in artificial breeding and wild release. The protection of giant panda habitats has been improved day by day, and the number of captive and wild giant panda populations has continued to grow steadily.
Data from the State Forestry and Grassland Administration shows that from January to September 2021, a total of 32 litters and 46 surviving giant panda cubs have been bred in my country, and the total number of captive giant pandas has reached 673; 1,340 wild giant pandas have been included in the protection of the Giant Panda National Park. 67 giant panda nature reserves at all levels have been established, effectively protecting 53.8% of the giant panda habitat.
At the same time, we continued to promote the rejuvenation of small wild populations of giant pandas, and successfully released 11 artificially bred giant pandas.
The above protection measures have lowered the threat level of giant pandas from "endangered" to "vulnerable".
Biodiversity conservation actions are also unprecedented in the plant world.
In situ conservation, ex situ conservation, return to the wild... 120 species of wild plants with very small populations, such as Debao cycad, Huagai, and Baishanzu fir, have been rescued and protected in my country, and the populations of some endangered species have gradually recovered.
Especially in the protection of germplasm resources, my country has established nearly 200 botanical gardens of various levels and types, collected and preserved more than 20,000 species, and basically completed the rare wild cycads, palms, and key orchid and magnolia originating in my country. Collection and preservation of plant germplasm resources.
In the verdant dense forest in the northern suburbs of Kunming, the four-story building where the Southwest China Wildlife Germplasm Repository is located in the Kunming Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences looks ordinary, but it is the "home" of wild rare and endangered plants.
As the only comprehensive preservation facility in China that mainly focuses on the conservation of wild organism germplasm resources, it is also the largest wild organism germplasm resource bank in Asia. The germplasm resource collection network participated by colleges and universities and nature reserves, and has formulated collection norms and standards, focusing on the collection of national key protected and rare and endangered species and other wild plant species.
"This is the 'home' and 'boat of life' of seeds. As long as it is safe and sound, it is enough to save these wild and rare plants from extinction. Our goal is to preserve 19,000 species and 190,000 copies of germplasm resources." Li Dezhu, a researcher at the Kunming Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and director of the Southwest China Wildlife Germplasm Resource Bank, told reporters that they will exchange seeds with other institutions around the world from time to time, "this is very necessary for the safety of global germplasm resources".
A New Start for Global Biodiversity Governance
A fantastic trip made the Asian elephants and the red land of Yunnan inadvertently become the focus of the world's attention, and even become a splendid blooming flower on the picture scroll of China's ecological civilization.
At present, human beings are standing at the crossroads of protecting biodiversity and realizing global sustainable development.
Facing the current situation of global biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation, China upholds the concept of harmonious coexistence between man and nature, and insists on prioritizing conservation and green development. While new achievements have been made in biodiversity conservation, it has also made new contributions to addressing global biodiversity challenges.
On October 15, 2021, the 15th Conference of the Parties to the 2020 United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (the first phase) ended in Kunming, Yunnan, with a total of 5,000 participants from more than 140 contracting parties and more than 30 international institutions and organizations. The remaining representatives participated in the conference through a combination of online and offline methods.
The conference announced China's new measures for biodiversity conservation, including: taking the lead in investing 1.5 billion yuan to establish the Kunming Biodiversity Fund; accelerating the construction of a natural reserve system with national parks as the main body, and formally establishing Sanjiangyuan, giant panda , Siberian tiger and leopard, Hainan tropical rain forest, Wuyi Mountain and other first batch of national parks; successively released key areas and industries carbon peaking implementation plans and a series of supporting measures to build carbon peaking, carbon neutral "1+N" policy system, etc.
The conference also adopted the "Kunming Declaration", which released a positive signal to strengthen the protection of biodiversity, and the beautiful vision of harmonious coexistence between man and nature became clearer.
People live up to the green hills, and the green hills will certainly live up to people.
Starting from Kunming, the process of global biodiversity governance has opened a new chapter.
Standing at a new starting point, the international community should join hands to build a beautiful earth home.
The good news is that change is happening -
More than 3,000 kilometers away from Kunming, Russia's "Leopard Hometown" National Park cooperates with China's Siberian Tiger and Leopard National Park to improve the ecological environment of the wild Siberian tiger and leopard habitat;
When participating in the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Marape said that he plans to phase out log exports while developing solar, hydro and geothermal energy to reduce carbon emissions;
In the Sahel region of Africa, Chinese concepts and technical elements have been deeply integrated into the construction of the "Green Great Wall" project in Africa...