CHINADAILY 28 MAY 2018

urban growth is threatening biodiversity

The new Silk Road construction, also
known as the One Belt One Road (OBOR)
initiative, is the largest economic
development in the world. The OBOR
project will stretch across 65 nations,
connecting East Asia, Central Europe and
East Africa. The project costs about $8
trillion and is set to be completed in 2049.
OBOR is made up of two components: the
Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st
Century Maritime Silk Road. The main
objective of OBOR is to link China to the
rest of the world using railways, roads, oil
pipelines, power plants, deep-water ports
and utility grids (electricity generators
such as wind turbines, water turbines); to
facilitate faster trading and increase
transport efficiency. 
WWF has also warned that the routes
overlap with about 2000 key
biodiversity areas and 50 biodiversity
hotspots. Most of these worries are
located at the China-Pakistan
Economic Corridor (CPEC). The
corridor connects the Pakistani coast
to Xinjiang, China. A currently
existing deep-water port installed in
Gwadar, The Arabian sea is
undergoing improvements to ship 1.4
billion oil barrels to China in half the
time it used to take.

Such a huge and sophisticated project

surely has a heavy impact on the
surroundings and environment. Because
many power plants and sea links will be
constructed or are under construction,
they may interfere with wildlife both on
land and in sea. According to WWF, the
planned corridors are overlapping with the
range of 265 threatened species, including
the already endangered, endemic Giant
Panda. 
 28 MAY 2018

urban growth is threatening biodiversity

The CPEC is planning to undertake
many renewable energy projects. 75%
of the projects are carbon dioxide-
emitting coal power plants. 15% are
hydro-powered, 8% is solar powered
and 2% is wind-powered. The Pakistan
project is intended to facilitate the
circulation of fossil fuels, which is
vital to China’s economy. According to
the Chinese NGO Global
Environmental Institute, 240 coal-
fired power projects in 25 of the OBOR
countries involved China by the end
of 2016. 12.66% of the world’s planned
projects were Chinese-funded coal
projects. 114 plants are currently in
operation and they represent 4.5% of
the coal produced today.  

Because of such operations, China has

developed conservation efforts to
tackle biodiversity loss or
environmental pollution in general.
Back in 1978, The Three Belt Program
was implemented by the Chinese State
Council, to combat desertification, to
restore forests and ecological
characteristics in Northern China, and
to conserve soil and water. In 1979,
many nature reserves were
constructed. In the 1980s, laws
relating to the environment,
ecosystem, and biodiversity, were
implemented; such as the Forest Law,
Grassland Law, Protection of Wildlife
Law and the Environmental
Protection Law. These implications
created the foundations for further
environmental conservation and also On the 3rd of March 2018, China
signified that the Chinese government celebrated World Wildlife Day.
was aware of the terrible ecologic Chinese conservation authorities are
situation China was in.   A few other calling for greater protection of
projects were added in during the 21st endangered species. World Wildlife
century. By the end of 2011, China has Day is aimed at encouraging people to
a significant amount of about 2640 help conserve the animals and raise
nature reserves that covered about awareness about threats against
15% of the Chinese territory.    them. 
 28 MAY 2018

urban growth is threatening biodiversity

“The numbers of giant pandas, crested ibis

and Tibetan antelopes are rising, which
shows remarkable progress in
protection work of wildlife,” Li
Chunliang, deputy director of State
Forestry Administration, said.

GIANT PANDA
Conservation efforts in China have
downgraded the Giant Panda status
from endangered to vulnerable on the
IUCN Red List. The wild population
grew 17% between 2004 and 2014.
Science, political will and especially
the local communities were credited
for the increase in the giant panda
population.

GOLDEN SNUB-NOSED MONKEY

The Golden snub-nosed monkey is 1 of
the 5 golden monkey species which
are highly endangered. In 1986, only
about 500 monkeys were found living
in the wild. But after reforestation
occurred and a hunting ban was
placed, the numbers increased to
triple the population in 1986; 1500
golden sub-nosed monkeys.

Conservation efforts in China seem to have paid off, but with their rapid economic
growth, more work is needed to protect their rich biodiversity and relieve what they
have lost.