Summary
The perspective article discusses China’s efforts to protect its biodiversity through legislative frameworks, identifies inadequacies in the current system and suggests ways to improve the system. It underscores China’s responsibility for biodiversity conservation, given the country has one-tenth of global species, and the threats to the ecosystem posed by population growth and resource exploitation. Although laws have been enacted since 1989 with some success in species recovery, overall biodiversity in the country is still declining.
The article debates five major shortcomings in China’s legal framework: a) varying threat-assessment quality and uniform treatment of species; b) lack of quantitative sentencing standards for herbaceous plants, fungi and algae; c) lack of legislative flexibility to reflect dynamic changes in status and taxonomy; d) outdated punishment standards based on economic profits; and, e) potential for excessive punishment because of non-discrimination between organized and individual wildlife crime. The article provides case examples of these shortcomings. Differences in sentencing standards are illustrated by comparing the market value, ecological roles, and socioeconomic benefits of different species.
The article suggests corrective measures to improve biodiversity protection in China, including regular updates to threat assessments based on scientific evidence that takes into account ecological differences among species groups, and differentiating punishments for organized and individual crimes. Overall, the article calls for a more systematic and science-based approach to improve China’s biodiversity protection laws.
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