Wildlife conservation prioritized in Beijing 2022's venue construction

BEIJING, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Beijing 2022 organizers have prioritized the wildlife conservation during the construction of the National Sliding Center and the National Alpine Skiing Center at Haituo Mountain in the Yanqing competition zone.

Yu Bo, head of the Yanqing district government, said that the organizers tried the best to minimize the impact of the venues' construction on mountain ecology. In-situ, near-situ and ex-situ conservation measures have been taken for the wildlife.

According to Beijing 2022 Pre-Games Sustainability Report, in 2017, before the construction of venues, experts from Beijing Forestry University were invited to conduct a survey on the types and distribution of plants in and around the Yanqing competition zone, covering about 20 square kilometers, more than the targeted areas.

The survey showed that the area contained about 447 plant species. The organizers came up with a series of measures to protect the plants and their habitats.

For the animals in the mountains, Yu said, the topography of the competition zone was taken into account to guarantee the living spaces of small animals, and night-time construction was reduced as much as possible to mitigate the impact. More than 600 artificial nests have been set up for birds.

In addition, over 200 infrared cameras have been in place to monitor wild animals.