Project description

Title: German-Chinese cooperation platform for the protection of species-rich, carbon-storing ecosystems
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU)
Country: China
Lead executing agency: Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP)
Overall term: 2008 to 2011

Context

The People's Republic of China is not only one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases worldwide – it is also among the countries most affected by climate change. At the same time, China has a particularly rich biological diversity. The dramatic loss of species diversity as a result of rapid economic growth is being further accelerated by the effects of climate change. There are as yet no adequate climate-adapted protection or management strategies to promote not only conservation of biodiversity under changing climatic conditions but also preservation of effective carbon-storing ecosystems.

Objective

The responsible Chinese institutions apply climate-adapted conservation and management strategies to maintain carbon-storing ecosystems and their biodiversity.

Approach

With the support of the project in the pilot region of Jiangxi, the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences (CRAES) has compiled a Carbon and Biodiversity Atlas. In this context, the project promotes cooperation with the United Nations, which, through the World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC), has developed a similar approach at the global level. CRAES will also produce a database with detailed information on the ecosystems in the province of Jiangxi.

The Chinese partners and government authorities will receive technical advice on the criteria for assessing ecosystems, so as to ultimately ensure the preservation and stabilisation of biodiversity and their ability to store carbon. Appropriate protection and management strategies will be developed on this scientific basis.

A practical and knowledge-based exchange will be established through study tours to Germany, workshops and Sino-German conferences, as well as study tours within China.

Results achieved so far

Sharing know-how and experiences has led to a re-think among relevant authorities. These now recognise the need to develop and apply climate-oriented protection and management strategies for the protection of biodiversity and the preservation of effective carbon-storing ecosystems. Hence, the provincial government of Jiangxi announced it would extend successful initiatives developed under the project to Jiangxi’s system of protected areas.

National and international workshops and study tours have created a platform both for the development of a national protected area network as well as a network of German and Chinese experts in the field of biodiversity and climate change.

Thanks to workshops and training sessions, over 30 staff members at reserves and representatives of relevant government agencies are now qualified to conduct vulnerability studies independently. The three reserve administrations that received training have each now developed strategies for countermeasures, e.g. cross-province cooperation with neighbouring protected areas.

The results of the Carbon and Biodiversity Atlas were presented jointly by the Chinese Ministry of Environment, CRAES, UNEP-WCMC and GIZ at the climate negotiations in Copenhagen in 2009 and as part of the 10th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP 10) in Nagoya. This dissemination of project results increased the focus on aspects of biodiversity in the climate debate, and in particular for instruments of climate funding, in contexts such as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REED).