IWMC.org - 2nd Symposium - Issues of Relevance

Forest Biodiversity and Nature Reserve Management in China Shirong Liu and Xun Yan

Threatened Status of China’s Biodiversity and Causes

Although China has a vast territory, its arable land is quite limited while its population size is huge. China sustains 22% of the world population by using 7% of the world total land. The dramatic growth of its population and the high speed of economic development in recent years have increased its demands on the natural resources, ecological environments, putting a tremendous pressure on biodiversity and making many species severely endangered or being lost.

Forest resource in China has long been suffering damage from random felling, especially natural forests, leaving forests in a fragmented pattern of small isolated islands. This has resulted in a great loss of forest area and degradation of forest structure, and consequently led to drastic loss, modification and fragment of wild-habitats. It is estimated that the wild habitats in the tropical area in China have reduced from 432,066 km 2 to 64,966 km2 - accounting for 61% of the total. Due to heavy loss or degradation of habitats, the estimated proportion of endangered or vulnerable plant species in China as a whole is about 15-20% or about 4,000-5,000 species of higher plant, over the world’s average of 10% (see Table 3).

Table 3. Estimated number of endangered species in China (China Biodiversity Conservation Action Plan, 1994)
Taxa	Number of species	Number of endangered species	Ratio of endangered species to the total (%)
Vertebrates
Mammals	499	94	18.8
Birds	1186	183	15.4
Reptiles	376	17	4.5
Amphibians	279	7	2.5
Fish	2,804	97	3.5
Subtotal	5144	398	7.7
High plants
Bryophytes	2,200	28	1.3
Pteridophytes	2,600	80	3.1
Gymnosperms	200	75	37.5
Angiosperms	25,000	826	3.3
Subtotal	30,000	1009	3.4
Total	35,144	1431	4.1

The loss of biodiversity in China is not only indicated as habitat damage, species extinction and genetic gene disappearance, but also reflected as the consequent degradation of ecological environments. The environmental degradation is largely shown in expansion of land desertification, soil erosion, fertility reduction, deterioration of water quality and frequent occurrence and intensification of flood, drought and other biological disasters. It is estimated that the desertified land area is 2.6223 million km2 - accounting for 27.32% of the China’s total - with an annual expansion growth of 2,460 km2. The area of water and soil erosion due to forest damage in China is 1.5 million km2 - making up one sixth of the country’s total. The annual amount of soil loss in China is 5 billion tonnes that is equivalent to a loss of 1 million ha of farmland. This resulted in a great loss of nutrients and sedimentation of river or lake bed.

Causes of Threats to Forest Biodiversity in China

The indirect cause of threats to forest biodiversity is originated from the way of human activities. China has a large existing population size and is experiencing the third pick of birth rate. Although China has achieved a great progress in controlling population growth, the absolute annual increase in population numbers is expected to continue until the middle of next century. This constant population pressure combined with accelerated economic development is exerting immense stress and demand on natural resources and ecological environments. Therefore, the impacts of human population on China’s biodiversity are enormous. The direct causes of threats to forest biodiversity are as follows:

3.2.1. Over-harvesting of forests. The Third Forest Resource Inventory revealed that the forest cutting yield had been more than its growth yield, with an increasing trend over time. During the Second and the Third Forest Resource Inventory, one third of natural forest resource was harvested, with the annual deficit of 170.66 million m3 and the annual decreasing rate of 4.44%. Although forest cutting was reduced during the Fourth Forest Resource Inventory, over-harvesting of forest resource was widely reported.

3.2.2 Conversion of forest to farmland. As a sharp increase in population and economic development, the demands on forest resource and farmland is ever growing. As a result, a large amount of forests has been clear-cut and converted into farmland, non-agricultural purposes or even barren lands. It is estimated that about one third of the existing farmland is originating from natural forests. The conversion of forests is more severe in the tropics. In Hainan Island, for example, about 2,000 ha of forests is under the slash and burn practice, leading to a conversion of 17 x 10⁴ ha forest into farmland, shifting land and abandoned lands.

IWMC World Conservation Trust