By Kathleen McLaughlin, 3/7/17, sciencemag.com
Beijing—China’s nature reserves
are woefully inadequate at protecting biodiversity, a 12-year study of turtle
poaching in dozens of conservation areas has found.
The research results, published 6
March in Current Biology, focus on turtles but draw larger conclusions about
the state of wildlife conservation in China. The authors note that China has
2700 nature reserves covering 1.46 million square kilometers, or about 15% of
the country’s total territory, a higher percentage than many other countries.
And though China ranks first in flora and fauna richness in the Northern
Hemisphere, 43% of those species are threatened.
“We discovered that poaching
occurred in all of the 56 reserves surveyed, resulting in dramatically reduced
turtle populations,” the authors wrote. “In a majority of the reserves, the
reserve staff themselves were generally involved in poaching.”
“Although nature reserves were
created to protect plants and animals, they have become part of the problem due
to weak enforcement of rules,” the authors wrote.
The scientists relied on field
studies, surveys of exotic animal markets, and interviews to document the
declining turtle population trends in protected areas across three provinces.
“Hunting is strictly forbidden in
all nature reserves in China,” they wrote. “From field surveys, however, we
found over 1400 poaching devices (i.e. cage traps, hooks, pitfall traps) and
encountered 69 hunters in 11 nature reserves. This unexpected finding reflected
the managers’ inaction. Although historical records identified 15 species
present in these areas, we just found nine species in the field.”
The study asserts that this lack
of protection for turtles almost certainly extends to all species in China’s
wildlife conservation areas.
“This situation is not unique to
turtles, as we saw signs of poaching for all species valuable for food and
trade. Currently in China, endangered species are facing a serious threat of
extirpation due to poaching, and we identify nature reserves as contributing to
the problem due to poor management practices and lack of effective
supervision,” they wrote. “In order to improve the conservation of China’s rich
biodiversity, it is imperative for China’s nature reserve system to make
meaningful changes to its policies and procedures.”
The authors recommend that
China’s natural reserves cease all commercial activities and focus on species
and habitat conservation.
Recognizing the problem, China’s
central government is rolling out plans for a series of national parks around
the country that will focus on protecting critically endangered species. A
massive national park in northeastern China will preserve habitat for Siberian
tigers and leopards, and other parks will focus on endangered antelopes, pandas,
elephants, and other large animals.
The national park plan will take
control of protected areas away from local and provincial officials, who face
funding shortfalls and often engage in profit-making schemes—like turtle
poaching—that harm habitat and wildlife, environmental groups contend. The
central government will provide the funding and direct the management of the
national parks.
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