Xie Yan: Why Global Cooperation is Needed to Protect Biodiversity?

In 1992, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was signed at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. In the past three decades, this convention has played an important role in biodiversity conservation, but the world is still facing challenges such as the accelerating extinction of species. Xie Yan, an associate professor at the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, who has been working on biodiversity research and conservation for more than 20 years, expressed that all countries are in the same boat to safeguard our home and find the "code" to deal with the challenges in a recent exclusive interview with East Meets West of China News Services (CNS).

The summary of the interview is as follows:

CNS: The Convention on Biological Diversity is an international convention for the conservation of the Earth's biological resources and was signed on 5 June 1992 at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. What is the background and significance of the conclusion of this convention?

Xie Yan: In 1972, the United Nations convened the Conference on the Human Environment, and the participating countries signed the Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, which included the conservation of biological resources among the 26 principles.

In 1973, representatives from 80 countries signed the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES Convention), which prompted greater cooperation between countries worldwide to protect certain species from overexploitation.

Thomas E. Lovejoy, a leading American conservation biologist, coined the term 'biological diversity' in 1980. The implication is that the scientific community has moved from an emphasis on the conservation of one endangered species to a clearer understanding of the need for biodiversity in the Earth's ecosystem.

The complex relationships between species, both symbiotic and competitive, keep our ecosystems healthy. More and more countries are beginning to recognise the seriousness of this problem because of the accelerating disappearance of species.

In 1992, the Convention on Biological Diversity was signed at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Brazil. As stated at the beginning of the Convention, "All parties, aware of the intrinsic value of biological diversity...recognise that the conservation of biological diversity is a matter of common concern to all mankind..." The signing of this Convention is a milestone for biodiversity conservation, which means that the Parties have the same goals and directions.

The 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity opened in Kunming, Yunnan Province, on 11 October 2021. A short film on elephants was shown at the opening ceremony. Photo by Liu Ranyang, China News Services

CNS: Over the past 30 years, the Parties have made many positive contributions to the conservation of the Earth's biological resources, but they are also constrained by unilateralism. What are the current challenges to biodiversity conservation? Why is global cooperation needed?

Xie Yan: In the 30 years since the signing of the Convention on Biological Diversity, although there has been a consensus on the concept, the global conservation of biodiversity has not been satisfactory in terms of implementation. The 2019 data report released by the UN Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) has some impressive points: species extinction is accelerating; about one million plant and animal species are now threatened with extinction...

The conservation of biodiversity requires global cooperation. The first dimension is that animal migrations and movements have no national boundaries, such as the Arctic tern that breeds in the Arctic but travels to the Antarctic to overwinter, travelling between the two poles once a year.

The second dimension is the outstanding endemism of biodiversity in a country, such as Madagascar, represented by the lemurs, of which there are more than 100 species. If a certain species of lemur disappears from Madagascar one day, it will also mean its disappearance from the planet.

For the third dimension, how can biodiversity conservation be achieved by one country alone, when human "pressure" increases in the face of emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic? Only by working together can we meet the challenge.

CNS: The Convention places great emphasis on the international obligations of individual countries. From your experience of working for international organisations, how can the efforts to protect biodiversity mobilise individual countries?

Xie Yan: In 2005, I joined the world-renowned International Wildlife Conservation Society to take charge of the China project. I had the opportunity to go to Qiangtang to study Tibetan antelopes, Anhui to study Chinese alligators and, the Northeast to study Siberian tigers... My work experience in international organisations has made me deeply appreciate that the issue of biodiversity conservation is ultimately the way to solve the problem of people living in harmony with nature.

Tibetan antelopes at the Siling Lake in Qiangtang grassland, Tibet, 2 May 2021.

Photo by Jiang Feibo, China News Services

Only when local people have a stable and secure income and benefit from the conservation of ecosystems, plants, and animals can they join in protecting the species around them. The same applies to countries.　　

All countries need to recognise that healthy ecosystems are based on the need for human survival and development, and that this needs to be raised to the level of national strategies. Moreover, only when this is done can biodiversity conservation be 'intelligently' coordinated with economic development and land resource planning in the context of a 'big picture'.

CNS: What progress has China made in the development of its nature reserve system and the protection of endangered species?

Xie Yan: China is vast and one of the richest countries in the world in terms of biodiversity. From the protection of endangered species to habitat protection (nature reserves), and then slowly recognising the need to enhance ecosystem services for sustainable development of a green economy, China's concept of biodiversity conservation is constantly innovating.

People visited the pavilion of biodiversity conservation practices and achievements in Yunnan on 4 November 2021. Photo by Liu Ranyang, China News Services

Beyond the concept, the White Paper Biodiversity Conservation in China, released in October 2021, reveals concrete actions. Since the establishment of the first nature reserve in 1956, China has established nearly 12,000 nature reserves of various types at all levels, accounting for about 18 per cent of the land area.

In recent years, China has actively promoted the establishment of a nature reserve system with national parks as the main body, nature reserves as the foundation, and various types of nature parks as supplements, laying the foundation for protecting habitats, improving the quality of the ecological environment, and maintaining national ecological security. Since 2015, 10 pilot national parks have been launched, including Sanjiangyuan, integrating relevant nature reserves into the scope of national parks and implementing unified management, overall protection, and systematic restoration. By building a scientific and reasonable nature reserve system, 90% of terrestrial ecosystem types and 71% of the national key protected wildlife species have been effectively protected.

CNS: You have said that the successful experience of China has accumulated in the process of biodiversity conservation should be used by more countries. What is the "Chinese solution" that can be used as a reference?

Xie Yan: The international push to mainstream biodiversity is to harmonise the development of various industries with national ecological security needs. This is a difficult issue for countries around the world. By implementing the spatial planning strategy of "Integrating Multiple Plans into One", China has fundamentally resolved the contradictions between the various sectoral plans of the past and integrated ecological protection into national social and economic development planning. Since 2011, 50.4% of the national territory has been designated as a national key ecological function area, and the financial transfer payment system has been implemented. This is a form of long-term ecological compensation on a huge scale, and more than 800 counties have benefited from the policy.

The ecological red line is an important institutional innovation in the reform of China's territorial spatial planning and ecological and environmental institutional mechanisms. China's innovative model of ecological spatial protection has designated areas with extremely important ecological functions such as biodiversity maintenance and extremely fragile ecological areas such as the red-line areas for strict protection.

In addition, China is building a "nature reserve system with national parks as the main body", a core component of the ecological red line, and these ecological-related plans are being mainstreamed into socio-economic development through the "blueprint drawn to the end".

An aerial photo of the Lancang River Park in the Sanjiangyuan National Park after snow on 27 February 2022. Photo by Li Jiangning, China News Services

CNS: You have led the establishment of China's "Protected Area Friendliness", which promotes the production of eco-friendly products by communities in nature reserves to alleviate the conflict between nature conservation and economic development. In your opinion, what is the code to alleviate the contradiction between nature conservation and economic development? Under the impact of COVID-19 pandemic, how should the East and West work together to overcome the difficulties in the face of the dual tasks of economic recovery and environmental protection?

Xie Yan: This can be answered by the story of the cultivation of wild goose rice in Hunchun, Jilin Province. The Hunchun Jingxin Wetland, where local villagers produce rice, is also a habitat for migratory birds. Human-bird conflicts occur from time to time during the migratory season. A local cooperative working with animal protection organisations to grow wild goose rice was set up in Hunchun to support farmers in learning organic production methods and buying organic fertilisers. The biggest challenge in this process was weeding, which was costly to do manually, but the farmers could "weed" the rice by breeding ducks, which were good for "resale". At the same time, the ecological improvement has led to "birdwatching tourism", which has also brought income to the local population.

Wild geese for the north came for a rest in the Jingxin Wetland in Hunchun, Jilin province, on 16 March 2016. Photo by Zhang Yao, China News Services

Such a model can be replicated in the nature reserve system, allowing local residents to benefit from and invest in nature conservation.

With the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is true that we are faced with the double pressure of economic recovery and environmental protection, and what we need to do may be to create a sense of crisis, a sense of the relevance of biodiversity to each individual and each country. Meanwhile, we need to find ways to stimulate the value of ecological services to serve the local population through cooperation between East and West, through innovative mechanisms and other means.

Profile of the Interviewee:

Xie Yan is an associate professor at the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, founder of the Protected Area Friendliness, Executive Committee Member of the IUCN Species Survival Commission, former Secretary of the International Society of Zoological Sciences, and Director of the China Programme Department of the International Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

Editor: Su Yiyu