Growing number of species being protected

Botanical gardens

Similar efforts have also taken place in the protection of wild plants.

The administration said China has nearly 200 botanical gardens with more than 20,000 species, accounting for about 70 percent of all plant types in the country.

In 2017, the Wild Species Germplasm Bank was built with the support of the Kunming Institute of Botany at CAS.

It became China's wild plant species bank in 2019, hosting all germplasm resources from the country's biggest research institutes and botanical gardens. So far, the bank has stored 100,346 seeds, 3,190 living plants and 9,377 DNA samples.

It functions as a comprehensive national database for the collection and preservation of wildlife germplasm resources with an international advanced plant genomics and seed biology experimental research platform.

"The database is crucial to sharing the resources of different organizations. The bank is expected to standardize the collection and conservation of germplasm resources, boosting our ability to protect bioresources," said Li Dezhu, head of the institute in Kunming.

At a recent news briefing, the forestry administration revealed a plan to draft a detailed guideline on wildlife protection. That would see specific action unveiled for the protection of critically endangered species such as the Hainan gibbon and the Chinese pangolin.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment said recently that China will complete a national monitoring network for biodiversity conservation this year as it prepares to host a crucial UN conference on the subject.

The United Nations Biodiversity Conference－the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, aka COP 15－is scheduled to take place in May in Kunming, capital of Yunnan province, having been postponed last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ministry has invested 400 million yuan in biodiversity surveys and assessments and the observation network.

Based on improved monitoring, the environmental watchdog will roll out assessment appraisals for a "red line" management system, which will help to map out more than 25 percent of the country's land, protecting the vast majority of key species and ecosystems.

Huang Runqiu, minister of ecology and environment, said: "This year, we will complete construction of the monitoring network, a major national biodiversity conservation project. China will promote the negotiation process for the framework by preparing for COP 15. We will strive to ensure that it will be a milestone conference."

Hou Liqiang and Xu Tian'ge contributed to this story.