China News Service, Beijing, February 13 (Xu Jing) As Beijing's ecological environment continues to improve, more and more rare flowers, plants and animals are making their homes in the capital, making Beijing the most biodiverse city in the world. One of the big cities.
According to the "Beijing Terrestrial Wildlife Catalogue (2021)" released in October 2021, there are 596 species of wild animals in Beijing, including more than 500 species of wild birds.
On February 13, in the "Seeing Nature in the City" interactive display activity of "Double Olympics City·Watching", Ji Jianwei, deputy director of the Beijing Wildlife Rescue Center, Zhang Yaqiong, deputy director of the scientific research publicity and education department, and the city of Beijing Landscaping Bureau Cao Rui, the first-level chief member of the Greening Division, described Beijing's achievements in wildlife survey and protection and green space construction in recent years, as well as the goals of a new round of ecological construction.
596 species of wild animals thrive in Beijing
In today's urban area of Beijing, citizens can often see wild animals such as hedgehogs and weasels, and birds such as turtledoves and hoopoe are also very common.
Ji Jianwei, deputy director of the Beijing Wildlife Rescue Center, said that the number of bird species distributed in Beijing has accounted for more than one-third of the total number of bird species in China.
According to the "Beijing Terrestrial Wildlife Catalog (2021)" released in October 2021, 596 species of wild animals have thrived on the 16,400 square kilometers of land in Beijing, including more than 500 species of wild birds.
Wild birds include 30 national first-class key protected wild animals such as black stork and brown horse chicken, 96 national second-class key protected wild animals such as leopard cat and mandarin duck; more than 2,000 species of vascular plants have been recorded.
Ji Jianwei said that these data prove that Beijing has become one of the most biodiverse metropolises in the world.
Wildlife and cities "grow" together
From Beijing Swift's "history of sojourn", we can see Beijing's increasing awareness of wildlife protection.
Among the many birds resident in Beijing, the Beijing Swift is the only bird named after Beijing. It is also the prototype of "Nini", one of the "Fuwa" of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, and the first digital image of Beijing's central axis to apply for World Heritage.
Zhang Yaqiong, deputy head of the Scientific Research, Publicity and Education Section of the Beijing Wildlife Rescue Center, introduced that Beijing swifts like to build their nests on tall buildings.
With the increasing number of high-rise buildings in Beijing, the number of swifts in modern buildings is currently higher than the number of swifts in ancient buildings, which shows that as the city grows taller, swifts are gradually adapting to the development of urbanization.
Zhang Yaqiong said that not only swifts are adapting to the city, but Beijing citizens are also becoming more and more accustomed to seeing swifts in their daily lives, and their awareness of wildlife protection has been increasing.
In 2006, the number of swifts in Beijing was about 3,000. According to the survey data in more than 20 urban areas in the city in 2021, there are about 9,000 swifts in Beijing, a significant increase compared to 2008.
It is speculated that, together with the suburban swifts not included in this survey, the city's population of swifts could reach more than 10,000.
Where do Swifts go in winter?
Ji Jianwei said that winter is in Africa.
He said that according to research, Beijing Swift flies more than 20,000 kilometers every year, flying over Inner Mongolia, over the Tianshan Mountains and the Red Sea, crossing more than 20 countries, arriving in southern Africa for wintering, and returning to Beijing the following spring.
Its migration process and route basically coincide with the "Belt and Road", and it can be called an "ecological ambassador" on the "Belt and Road".
It is planned to complete 150,000 mu of afforestation this year
Protecting biodiversity is of great significance for improving the quality and stability of regional ecosystems and maintaining ecological security.
Cao Rui, the first-level director of the Urban Greening Division of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Landscaping, introduced that in the new round of afforestation of one million mu, Beijing has built 260 green plates of more than 1000 mu and 29 large-scale forest wetlands of more than 10,000 mu, forming a diverse The green vegetation and ecological environment connect some ecological corridors and promote the connectivity and integrity of the ecosystem.
At the same time, Beijing has built a lot of "urban forests" and small and micro wetlands based on the principle of "using ecological methods to solve ecological problems", and has built 79 nature reserves of various levels and types, with a total area of 368,000 hectares, making the city's More than 90% of national and local key wildlife and habitats have been effectively protected.
According to reports, Beijing plans to complete afforestation and greening of 150,000 mu this year. Different greening goals have been set in different regions and implemented through targeted strategies: 200 hectares of green space are planned to be added in core areas, central urban areas and urban areas; A large-scale urban forest ecosystem will be built in the region, and more than 90,000 mu of greening will be added; 64,400 mu of ecological restoration will be implemented in the ecological conservation area.
In the future, Beijing will create more "near-nature" ecological landscapes, further promote the construction of small and micro green spaces and pocket parks, so that more citizens can "open their windows to see the green, go out and enter the park", and bring real green gains to the public. feel.
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