Understanding China’s Biodiversity Protection

Abstract

As one of the world’s mega-biodiverse countries, China has been developing and exploring better ways of conservation since signing the Convention on Biological Diversity in 1992, and the approach is based on its unique wisdom. Terry Townshend says China’s efforts to protect biodiversity are reflected not only in the protection of certain species, but also in the protection of entire ecosystems. China is moving toward a symbiosis of economic development and natural environment protection.

British environmentalist Terry Townshend is a senior consultant for the Conservation Program of Paulson Institute, a Chicago-headquartered think tank founded by former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry P. Paulson to foster better China-U.S. relations. He is also a member of the global advisory group of BirdLife International headquartered in Cambridge, the UK, and the founder of Birdingbeijing.com, a website dedicated to birds and other wildlife found in Beijing, where he has been living since 2010.

Terry Townshend

As one of the world’s mega-biodiverse countries, China has been developing and exploring better ways of conservation since signing the Convention on Biological Diversity in 1992, and the approach is based on its unique wisdom. Terry Townshend says China’s efforts to protect biodiversity are reflected not only in the protection of certain species, but also in the protection of entire ecosystems. China is moving toward a symbiosis of economic development and natural environment protection.

CNS: What made you start Birdingbeijing.com over a decade ago?

Terry Townshend: I have always been devoted to environmental protection issues. At first, Birding Beijing was just a personal diary. I kept a record of my travels around Beijing and what I was seeing. But very soon I started to get a lot of people contacting me to ask about birds in Beijing because of the website. And I found myself replying to these questions over and over again. So I decided to develop the website as an online resource to celebrate the wildlife of Beijing.

I once asked my friends outside China what’s the first word that comes into their head when they hear Beijing, and the most common response was pollution. So that was the image of Beijing internationally. So what I try to do is show that there’s another side of Beijing. Actually, Beijing is a really good place for birds and other wildlife. More than 500 species of birds have been recorded here and I think a lot of people would be surprised to hear that Beijing is one of the best birding capital cities in the world, ranking second among the G20 capital cities, preceded only by Brasilia in terms of the number of species recorded. There are more butterflies and dragonflies in Beijing than in the whole of the UK, and Beijing also has wild cats—the leopard cat—which is like the jewel in the crown. I try to use the website to raise awareness about how much there is in Beijing because the first step in conservation is knowing and understanding what we have around us.

Biodiversity is all about the wealth of species that we have. We evolved in nature and we’re part of it. Each species plays a role and if we lose one, it will weaken the resilience of the ecosystem and may lead to ecological imbalance. Globally, vertebrate populations have declined by an average 68 percent over the past 50 years. If we continue to follow this path, by the middle of the twenty-first century, we could lose 30–50 percent of all species on earth. And this loss isn’t only sad; it presents economic as well as public health risks. As one species in nature, human beings must respect and protect nature while shaping the world with their powerful capabilities.

CNS: In your extensive China experience, which places have impressed you most? In terms of biodiversity, what specific changes do you see today?

Terry Townshend: When I came to China, I started to travel around and I was amazed at how much wildlife there was compared to my home back in the UK. I went to the forests in Dongbei—northeast China—and they were full of singing birds. Beijing is a bird-watching paradise and the birds here vastly outnumber those in the UK and in Europe. Qinghai in the northwest is a very special place, with incredibly beautiful mountains and incredible wildlife. There are top predators such as snow leopards, wolves and bears.

I was also impressed by the number of birds in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in northern China—lots of different species singing like an orchestra in the morning. In Sichuan, the home of the giant panda in the southwest, I saw pandas and also red-breasted flycatchers and common stonechats, birds that are found nowhere else. I have been to Xinjiang in northwest China, which has spectacular biological resources. With a relatively sparse human population, there are big wild spaces and quite different wildlife flora and fauna compared with the rest of China. I’ve been in China over a decade now and I’ve still just scratched the surface. There’s still so much more to see.

Over the years, I have seen many changes. The east coast of China is the only stopover for many migratory water birds. The coast of the Yellow Sea (between the Chinese mainland and the Korean Peninsula) is a vital “refueling station” for millions of birds. During China’s period of incredible economic growth, a lot of these coastal wetlands were taken over for development. However, in 2019, the government issued a ban on any further reclamation of coastal wetlands and was committed to protecting the remaining sites. They became UN World Heritage Sites, which means they’re protected and recognized for their special value and natural heritage. So that’s a big change just in the last few years and one of the number of positive changes that are happening in China.

President Xi Jinping has this policy to develop China into an ecological civilization, which is essentially recognizing that you cannot have a healthy economy without a healthy environment. Those two things go hand in hand. We’ve seen quite a lot of progress, for example, with laws. We’ve seen the strengthening of environment protection and wildlife protection laws in the last few years. There are a number of things that are moving in the right direction for China and I see that as being very positive. We’ve still got a very long way to go to secure the future of the most important landscapes and wildlife, not only in China but globally.

CNS: China is one of the countries with the richest biodiversity in the world, like rare birds and abundant wildlife resources. How do you see China’s role in protecting biodiversity?

Terry Townshend: My feeling is that in the last 20 years there has been a huge growth in environmental awareness in China. The only way to slow and stop global biodiversity loss is to build more awareness and understanding of the value of nature.

Today, there are so many NGOs in the country working to protect specific species or specific habitats. For example, there is an NGO in Yunnan in the southwest that focuses on protecting gibbons, and there are organizations in Jiangsu in the east that specialize in wetland protection for “one of the eight major bird migration routes in the world.” We also have the Shan Shui Conservation Center, an NGO that focuses on conservation of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. I have been fortunate to personally work with them.

In 2021, the first part of COP15, the UN Biodiversity Conference, was held in Kunming, China, and the second part in Montreal, Canada, in December 2022. This is inarguably the most important environmental meeting the world has seen as it is where 190 countries and regions agreed on a new global biodiversity framework for the next 10 years and beyond with the aim of slowing and halting biodiversity loss. The fact that China hosted the first part of this major international conference is a sign of the importance China places on biodiversity conservation.

CNS: Together with the Shan Shui Conservation Center, you started the “Valley of the Cats” project, a wildlife-watching tourism project in Qinghai that has contributed to the development of the county of Zaduo in the province. How do you regard the role of community-based conservation and tourism, reflected in this project, in addressing the funding gap in conservation?

Terry Townshend: Many people think the herders in Qinghai are poor. However, when I first went there, I felt the local people are not poor at all. They’re very rich in life and they’re also some of the happiest people I’ve ever met. And when they get up in the morning and step outside, they have the most amazing back garden, the cleanest air you can breathe and the cleanest water you can drink. The people living in Qinghai are the custodians of a special environment on behalf of us all, and it’s important to find a way to reward them for their role in looking after these special places.

Community-based conservation and tourism are the ways to do this. The Valley of the Cats project means that tourists from all over the country come to Qinghai, where they enjoy homestays with local residents and eat their food, and the local residents guide them to watch the surroundings, wild animals and plants. This way the locals can get some more income and visitors have a chance to see some of the special wildlife and enjoy an authentic experience.

At the same time, the local communities participate in conservation projects, for example, setting up and maintaining infrared cameras on behalf of researchers from the universities in Beijing. The pictures and videos taken by the local residents are sent back to Beijing, reducing the need for the researchers to travel frequently to Qinghai and reducing the associated cost. By demonstrating the value of these places and the wildlife that live there, the local people have become proud of where they live and there is a strong collective will to protect their environment. I think this model can be replicated elsewhere in China and maybe even overseas in order to help bring more income to the local communities to reward them for protecting these special places on behalf of all of us.

At this stage, there is a large funding gap for protecting biodiversity. We calculated that the global funding gap for supporting and protecting biodiversity is more than $700 billion per year. Closing the gap will largely depend on government policies. It is crazy that today, globally, for every dollar we spend on protecting nature, we spend $4 incentivizing actions to harm nature through subsidies in the agriculture, fisheries and forestry sectors. Reform of these subsidies is critical and could help to reduce the gap by half.

In addition, steering the trillions of dollars that are due to be spent on infrastructure around the world into projects that enhance and don’t damage nature is vital. Enterprises can play a key role in exploring the potential of natural infrastructure and green financial products. Given the huge risks associated with biodiversity loss, protecting nature is like an insurance policy, just like what we take in our daily life. When human beings face significant risks, such as health risks or car accidents, we take out insurance policies so that if the worst happens, we are financially covered. Financial support for nature protection will be our insurance policy against the risk of biodiversity loss.

CNS: What is behind the poor implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity for almost a decade since its adoption in 1992? As the COP15 president and the largest developing country, what experience can China provide for the international community?

Terry Townshend: Initially, there wasn’t enough awareness of biodiversity risks, both among governments and the people. Successful protection of biodiversity requires the attention of the leaders of various countries and strong legal and policy support.

COP15 was a real opportunity for China to share its experience with other countries and learn from the best practices elsewhere. No country can save nature on its own. All countries must work together. Biodiversity conservation is such an important issue for every country that it’s really important that success stories, wherever they are in the world, are shared, because if we can learn from what has worked and what doesn’t work, it benefits everyone as we all try to work harder to protect nature. The Chinese government has issued policy documents to support biodiversity conservation mechanisms, strengthened supervision and financial support, and encouraged enterprises to invest in and protect biodiversity, and this is something that should be shared with the world.

As the co-host of COP15 and the largest developing country, China has brought together many countries, coordinating ministers and heads of international organizations to reach an agreement for everyone in the world. We have seen that in recent years, China has elevated ecological civilization to a national strategy, and its investment in legislation and scientific research projects has improved and increased.

CNS: You are an ecological advisor to the local governments of Beijing and the city of Yushu in Qinghai. Can China’s incorporation of ecological management into its national legal policy system and key development plans in recent years be a replicable model?

Terry Townshend: Chinese leaders put forward the idea of an ecological civilization, and underneath that, the Chinese government has strengthened its scientific and legislative foundations. China is striving for a balance between economic growth and environmental protection. In China and other countries, such as Costa Rica, there are many good examples and experiences. I think it is very important for other countries to learn from positive experiences and replicate them as much as possible.

CNS: You one wrote, “Biodiversity loss presents risks to human prosperity and well-being. There must be a comprehensive, worldwide effort to value, protect and restore nature.” What are your arguments for saying this?

Terry Townshend: Humans are part of nature, and if we destroy other species and ecosystems, we are essentially destroying the foundation of human life. The public health and economic and social risks arising from biodiversity loss are immeasurable. On the positive side, due to more media coverage and more government action, I think people are becoming more and more aware of the importance of the environment and nature.

CNS: How can younger generations worldwide have a deeper understanding of biodiversity conservation? How to pass on the concept of protecting biodiversity from generation to generation?

Terry Townshend: When I was four years old, I saw a particularly beautiful bird in our garden. I asked my parents what it was and they didn’t know, so they bought me a book about birds and I taught myself. That connection with nature has stayed with me. However, in the modern world, where most people live and work in cities, it is easy to become detached from nature and to be unaware of not only its beauty and its incredible stories but also of its importance to us as a species.

A British professor suggested that education on biodiversity conservation should be central in our education systems from a very young age. I think that children are innately curious about nature when they have the chance. We have a responsibility to let the younger generations connect with nature from an early age, and to discover some of the incredible stories about individual creatures, such as the unbelievable journeys made by migratory birds. Nature is the best theater and the best source of beauty, innovation, inspiration and everything good about life. Inevitably, there are so many more interesting stories still to be discovered, presenting so much opportunity for discovery.

I look forward to more young people participating in new scientific discoveries that will inspire generations of people, leading to more and more people falling in love with nature. If that happens, we have a chance to protect the wonderful creatures with which we share this beautiful planet.

(Interviewed by Chai Jingbo)