Program to Shield More WildlifeWith one of the richest varieties of biological resources in the world, China has mapped out an ambitious plan to bring more endangered species of wild animals and plants under effective protection.Within the next ten years, 15 new projects are expected to begin throughout China to bring more than one-third of the country's endangered species of wild fauna and 45 percent of its rare flora under sound protection, today's China Daily quoted sources from the State Forestry Administration as saying. The proposed projects are specially designed to shield the following endangered species of wildlife: the giant panda, the crested ibis, the tiger, the Tibetan antelope or chiru, the golden monkey, the Chinese alligator, the elephant, the gibbon, forest musk deer, Tibetan gazelle, wild deer, wild crane, the tragopan and orchids. This list includes only some of the wildlife covered by the administration's newly completed program for the protection of China's wild plants and animals and their habitats in the 2000-2050 period. The general target of the long-term program is to actively save China's key endangered wild animals and plants by putting them under the category of top State protection, officials here said. The existing State-owned natural reserves are to be extended and improved and new ones will be set up, including hunting-ban zones. China has 6,266 species of vertebrates, or ten percent of the world's total, of which about 500 are mammals, 1,244 birds, 376 reptiles, 284 amphibians and 3,862 fish. China also has the world's third largest number of plants in the world, over 30,000. |
| People's Daily Online --- http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/ |