Biodiversity Conservation Action Plan
Annex 3 SELECTED PROJECT PROFILES
This Annex contains project profiles for a few, but not all of the high priority projects needed to implement the Biodiversity Conservation Action Plan. The profiles list suggested participating agencies in China, but do not list the foreign bilateral, multilateral or nongovemmental agencies that could assist with project implementation. The profiles also do not contain budgets. These profiles will needfurther development prior to submission to potential funding agencies in China or elsewhere.
Project 6 (Objective 2, Chapter 3)
Title: Planning and establishment of the Longmenshan Reserve, Sichuan Province
Participating Agencies: Ministry of Forestry, Sichuan Forestry Bureau
Objectives: To establish a nature reserve in the northern Min Mountains to protect more of the fragmented range of the Giant Panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) and with it the high biodiversity of the region
Justiflcation: The proposed Longmenshan Reserve lies at the northern end of the Min Mountains in northern Sichuan, at the southeastern edge of the Qingzang Plateau. It has diverse relief, with numerous steep slopes and narrow valleys, and grassland plateaus at high altitude. Altitude ranges from 1100 to 4800 meters AMSL, with much of the reserve lying above 3000 meters AMSL. The reserve is rich in plant and animal species, reflecting the wide range of vegetation zones, and there remain considerable areas of primary forest. The lower broad-leafed forests have been affected by logging, but the higher altitude mixed and coniferous forest is in good condition. However, some logging has been started now, and a road is being built up the main valley. The reserve has been given high priority in the Ministry of Forestry's Programmes for the Protection of the Giant Panda and its Habitat. Apart from the Giant Panda, which may be regarded as a "flagship species," the reserve protects a large number of State-protected animals and plants, including the Sichuan Snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus roxellanae), takin (Budorcas taxicolor) and Chinese Monal (Lophophorus lhuysii). Also of importance are two species of birds endemic to the area, the Sichuan Wood-owl (Strix davidi) and the Sichuan Jay (Perisoreus internigrans) that are thought likely to occur in the reserve. The reserve also serves useful hydrological functions.
The reserve proposed at present covers 970 square kilometers and is split between three counties (Pingwu, Beichuan and Songpan). The Pingwu section (Sier) is the most undisturbed, with a human population of less than 900, and no road in to the main valley, although a short one is under construction and may be extended if needed for logging. The other parts are more heavily populated (2600 in Songpan, and 19,000 in Beichuan), but reassessment of the proposed boundaries may reduce the numbers within the reserve.
Activities:
- Prepare a realistic plan for establishment and management of the Longmenshan reserve, consulting with local people and government throughout.
- Establish the reserve.
Outputs:
Timing: Two to three years.
Project 7 (Objective 3 , Action 1)
Title: Comprehensive review of species conservation needs.
Participating Agencies: Ministry of Forestry, Ministry of Construction, Ministry of Agriculture, State Oceanic Administration, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Objectives: To carry out a comprehensive and systematic review of species conservation needs in order to determine priorities for action.
Justification: The best way to conserve species is by protection of sufficiently large areas of their natural habitat to ensure the long term viability of populations. Once the biodiversity and the protected area systems reviews have been completed a species conservation review would indicate which species are insufficiently protected by existing nature reserves or scenic areas and therefore require additional conservation measures to ensure their survival. In some cases, there may be sufficient coverage of the species range by protected areas, but the actual protection afforded on the ground may be insufficient. In other cases, there may be no protected areas in the species range, or the coverage may be insufficient to ensure the survival of a viable population. Objective assessment of the level of threats to different species is an important prerequisites to setting priorities for conservation action. Without a systematic review of the type proposed there is a danger that conservation efforts will be expended on species that do not warrant them (either because they are not endangered or because there is no hope of success) and that genuinely endangered species, or those for which there is a better chance of success, will be neglected.
Activities:
Review knowledge of species distributions and status, including coverage by protected areas, level of protection afforded by the protected areas, and level of hunting, habitat destruction and other threats outside protected areas.
Assess the level of threat to each species using the new IUCN classification of categories of threat: Extinct, Extinct in the wild, Critical, Endangered, Vulnerable, Susceptible, Safe/Low risk, Insufficiently known, Not evaluated.
Assess the effects of various courses of action on the threatened species making use of experience with procedures such as Conservation Assessment and Management Planning, and Population and Habitat Viability Analysis workshops for different taxonomic groups of animals and plants.
Determine urgent actions that are necessary for each threatened species, such as immediate improvement of protected area management, establishment of new reserves, increased emphasis on law enforcement, drafting of new regulations, compensation to local communities, or captive breeding initiatives.
Show priorities for action according to the results of the data analysis and workshops.
Prepare detailed project proposals for each species selected.
Outputs:
Timing: one year.
Project 8 (Objective 3, Action 3)
Title: Survey of the trade in wildlife in China.
Participating Agencies: Ministry of Forestry, Minorities Commission, Ministry of Public Security, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Academy of Chinese medicine, Customs Service
Justiflcation: There is still illegal wildlife trade somewhere in China, yet there is hardly any information available on the numbers taken from the wild to support the trade or where they come from. The trade is almost certainly responsible for the near extinction of several species in China and is now threatening species, such as the tiger, in other countries in the region. Unless this trade is brought under control many more species are likely to become threatened or extinct in China. But without knowledge of the trade and its impacts, it is difficult to control.
Objectives: Develop a plan of action to reduce harmful impacts of wildlife trade on biodiversity conservation.
Activities:
Investigate, using undercover agents, the main market places to determine the species being traded, the quantities traded, the sources of the animals or plants, the retail and wholesale prices paid and trends in both trade volume and prices.
Investigate the use to which the various species are put, the types of customers who buy them and the level of awareness among the customers and the public in general about the threats to biodiversity and the extent to which they care about its conservation.
Follow the trail back to the sources and investigate again who obtains and sells the animals and plants, the middlemen, prices paid at each stage, the number taken from the wild, trends in numbers and prices, and public awareness of the threats to the species and the importance of biodiversity conservation.
Based on the information collected, prepare an action plan to control the trade.
Outputs:
An action plan that, among other things, is likely to recommend: (i) Police action, where appropriate, to arrest and prosecute identified merchant and to close down illegal businesses. (ii) Improved protection for wild species in specific areas, whether in reserves or not. (iii) Initiation of a wideranging public awareness campaign both in the areas from where the animals and plants are collected, and in the cities where most of them are finally sold, to persuade people of the folly of unsustainable utilization of the natural resources of the country.
A strategy and plan for dealing with the problem of animals and plants used in traditional medicines.
Timing: Two years
Project 9 (objective 3, Action 4)
Title: Review of all artificially maintained collections of living plants and animals.
Participating Agencies: Ministry of Urban Construction, Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens, Chinese Association of Botanical Gardens, Ministry of Forestry, Ministry of Agriculture, State Oceanographic Administration, National Environmental Protection Agency, Chinese Academy of Sciences, State Education Commission, Medicinal Products Corporations
Objectives: To collect accurate information on the holdings of all zoos, botanic gardens, rare breed collections, and field gene banks so that integrated plans can be made for the use of exsitu facilities in biodiversity conservation.
Justification: Various institutions are constructing or planning the construction of captive breeding stations for plants and animals with the stated aim of conserving biodiversity. Several captive breeding farms have already been built up, and the effectiveness of the conservation effort has not been evaluated. There is an important educational and research role for zoos and botanic gardens. Zoos can also serve as a home for species that are likely to become extinct in the wild in the next 100 years or so. However, under the present conditions in China, populations of zoo animals are too small to contribute significantly to conservation efforts. Unfortunately, zoos still capture wild animals from the wild. This study should provide guidance on the adequacy of the present facilities and their operations, how they could be improved, whether they should be expanded or reduced in number, and how to improve coordination between them.
Activities: Information will be collected on:
Species, numbers, sexes, ages, places of origin, date of accession;
Records of births, deaths, accessions, sales, donations and breeding or exhibition loans for each species;
Staff, their level of training and ability;
Animal and plant housing and enclosures; and
Health care and disease diagnostic capability.
Assessments will be made of the:
Adequacy of the animal and plant care at each place;
Extent to which there are exchanges of animals and plants or genetic material between facilities; and
Level of coordination between facilities for the establishment of breeding plans for individual species that minimize in-breeding.
Outputs: A comprehensive review of ex-situ conservation facilities and their impacts on biodiversity, and recommendations for changes.
Timing: one year to eighteen months.
Project10 (Objective 3, Action 5)
Title: Conservation of the South China Tiger
(Panthera tigris amoyensis).
Participating Agencies: Ministry of Forestry, Ministry of Urban Construction (Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens)
Objectives: To ensure the survival of the south China subspecies of tiger, known as the South China Tiger.
Justirication: The South China Tiger, the only sub-species of Tiger (Panthera tigris) with its distribution entirely within China, is in immediate danger of extinction. It was formerly abundant and widespread in south China, ranging (west to east) from Sichuan (100 E) to Zhejiang and Fujian (120 E) and (north to south) from Shaanxi (30 N) to Guangdong (including Hong Kong), Guangxi and Yunnan (23 N).
As late as 1950, there were probably over 4,000 individuals of the South China subspecies. Hunting, encouraged by government bounties for skins, was a major cause of the rapid decline of the south China tiger over the following years. The Siberian Tiger (P. t. altaica), together with the giant panda and the golden monkey, were declared protected animals in 1959, but in the same year, the South China Tiger, leopards, wolves and bears were declared pests, and hunters were called upon to eradicate them as quickly as possible. Between 1951 and 1955 a mean of 400 South China Tiger skins were taken annually: the mean dropped to 152 skins per year for 1961-65, 19 per year for 1971-75, and 5 per year for 1976-79. Only in 1977 was the South China Tiger declared a protected animal, but by then it was almost too late: the population had fallen to probably no more than 200 individuals living in scattered areas of forest habitat that had been fragmented by the spread of agriculture and felling of timber to fuel pig-iron plants. The law was not enforced, and poaching continued: many people still regarded the tiger as a pest, and there is a flourishing trade in parts of tigers, from the bones to the testes and the eyeballs, for traditional Chinese medicine.
A 1991 survey estimated that there were fewer than 50 amoyensis left (10 in the wild, 40 in zoos), distributed in the mountainous regions of northern Guangdong, southern, eastern and northern Hunan, and western Fujian provinces with some secondhand reports from central Jiangxi. The same survey found that tigers were breeding in southern and northern Hunan and western Fujian, but that the existing nature reserves were too small, the habitat too fragmented, and the hunting pressure from humans too high for survival of the tiger in the wild. Experience with tiger conservation elsewhere in Asia has shown that large blocks of suitable habitat (at least 400 sq km) would be expected to be necessary to support a viable population of South China tigers in the wild, and it is dangerous to rely on small, isolated reserves. Only two reserves in the range of the South China Tiger are larger than this, and there are no recent records of tigers from one of these. Although man and tigers can coexist, tigers are extinct or rare where man has dominated the landscape. Reserves with a minimum of human activity are essential for conservation of tigers and their prey. The size of blocks necessary depends on the habitat type and the prey density, causes of mortality, and the tigers social organization. Reports indicate that prey density is how very low in the range of the South China tiger. If the tiger is to be saved in the wild, poaching and encroachment into tiger habitat will have to be stopped, and the surviving tigers will need access to large, continuous areas of suitable habitat: new reserves will have to be established.
Activities:
Develop subspecies survival plan for the South China Tiger and a comprehensive scheme for integration of tiger conservation with agricultural and other development activities. The following activities are likely to be included.
Survey local public opinion on tiger conservation and explore ways in which tiger conservation can be accepted by the rural communities that share its habitat.
Tighten enforcement of existing wildlife protection laws to stop hunting for tigers and setting traps for other species that kill tigers incidentally.
Take measures to protect tiger prey from human hunters: this will involve the passing of new regulations and enforcing them.
Modify forestry practices to improve the habitat for tigers and their prey. this will involve thinning existing single species conifer plantations and encouraging the planting or regeneration of native trees and vegetation to provide cover and forage for ungulates. Grasslands at higher elevation should not be converted to conifer plantations.
Enlarge existing reserves and combine neighboring reserves; enlarge Meihuashan and Longxi in Fujian, and Bamianshan in Hunan. Survey Yuhuang in Jiangxi, and other areas from which tigers are reported, and make plans according to the results of the surveys. Continue and expand public awareness and conservation education programs, and training for reserve staff.
Carry out research on selected tiger populations to collect of prey species, effects of human disturbance and activities on tigers, and effects of tigers on humans and their livestock.
Establish coordinated breeding plan for South China Tiger in captivity.
Outputs:
an integrated sub-species conservation plan;
enlarged reserves;
enforcement of wildlife protection laws and introduction of special regulations to protect prey species; and
public cooperation in protected area and tiger management.
Timing: Five years