Biodiversity Is Life

Of nearly 47,000 species that have been assessed by the GBO, 36 percent are endangered

Greater numbers of species are disappearing from the planet. Biodiversity protection has become an urgent task for all of us. Given this, the UN declared 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity.

Chinese conservationists call for increased awareness of the importance of saving the biodiversity. The following are the perspectives of some Chinese scientists on the significance of, and measures for, biodiversity protection:

Lu Zhi (professor of conservation biology at the School of Life Sciences of Peking University):

Biodiversity is both universal and specific. Species you see in other places may also be found in the place where you live. But some of them can only survive in certain geological and climatic conditions.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) divides nature reserves into different types, which are national, co-management, private and community nature reserves. Of these, the community nature reserve is owned or managed by a community.

It is estimated there are about 28 million hectares of protected forest area around the world managed solely by communities, nearly 11 percent of the world's total forest area. Currently, community reserves are attracting greater attention and are considered one of the means of promoting aboriginal communities development and cultural identity.

FIGHTING EXTINCTION: Fifteen Thalasseus zimmermanni, known as "legendary birds" for their rareness, are seen in the Minjiang River estuary wetland, Fujian Province, in May 2009. Scientists estimate there are less than 50 types of birds in the world (XINHUA)