On 5 February 2021, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration (NFGA) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) released a list of wildlife under state key protection. All species of stony corals, horn corals, blue corals, polyd corals, bamboo corals, etc., are listed in the State Second-Class Protected Animals. Chen Hong, director of CBCGDF Coral Protected Area of Yongle Atoll and director of Hainan South China Sea Institute of Tropical Ocean (HITO), proposed that the establishment of a national coral gene bank plays a vital role in the protection of coral reefs, which also provides a foothold for further improving China's ecological management capacity.
The text reads as follows:
We sincerely invite people from all walks of life to give suggestions for the relevant national construction. Please send your suggestions to the email address: v31@cbcgdf.org and indicate the email subject and the file's name: 2021 CPPCC Proposal Collection-Name-Suggestions on ***. We look forward to your mail.
A．Suggestions on establishing a national coral genebank
(from Chen Hong, director of CBCGDF Coral Protected Area of Yongle Atoll and director of HITO)
Background:
On 5 February 2021, the NFGA and the MARA released a list of wildlife under state key protection. All species of stony corals, horn corals, blue corals, polyd corals, bamboo corals, etc., are listed in the State Second-Class Protected Animals. There are about 500 species of wildlife under Special State Protection in China's waters.
China's first coral reef national reserve was established in 1991 in Sanya, with the HITO established in 2003. In 2006, with the support of the State Oceanic Administration, HITO bred 3,000 corals in Sanya. Later, with the support of two major scientific and technological projects of Hainan Province, more than 150,000 corals have been bred in Phoenix Island's waters in Sanya in the past decade. With the cultivation in other sea areas, there are more than 200,000 living corals, leading the country in cultivated corals' number and technology.
To strengthen the protection of coral reefs in the South China Sea, CBCGDF and HITO set up the China Coral Protection Area in the Xisha Yongle Atoll in 2016.
Chen Hong and Tang Jianwu, professor of East China Normal University, found that coral has the function of building reefs and that healthy corals are carbon sinks in a joint study. It can reduce carbon dioxide in the ocean and atmosphere, giving new significance to coral reef protection.
Relevant scientific research institutions evaluated that Sanya's coral reef degradation of more than 80 percent. At present, it is hard to see the live corals, which once saw at low tide in the Luhuitou Xiaodonghai area. Without superior protection, the precious coral reef resources will be further degraded.
In 2019, HITO undertook the Hainan Provincial Key Research and Development Project Research on the "Key Technologies of Coral Gene Bank." In the past two years, HITO has established a coral gene bank of 50 species, including indoor and wild banks. This database has the preservation technology of living coral and has the preservation technology of coral tissue and molecular identifications. It is also the first of its kind in China and has not been reported internationally. As an independent legal entity, HITO is the only one in Hainan Province with legal qualifications for coral breeding, which lays a legal foundation for the establishment of a coral gene bank.
On 22 November 2020, President Xi Jinping said, "we could protect the ecosystem with respect for nature. China supports deepening G20 cooperation in reducing land degradation, conserving coral reefs, and cleaning up plastic from the ocean. Through collaboration in these and many other areas, we could build a more robust defense for global ecological security. " Protecting coral reefs is not only Hainan's environmental action but also an important starting point for China to participate in international environmental management, which all need the support of coral germplasm resources.
Content:
HITO attracted tourists to snorkel and see coral, which proves that coral breeding and cultivation is a meaningful way to realize coral reef ecological restoration. The coastal area of Phoenix Island is a suitable sea area for coral conservation and cultivation.
In 2017, a central environmental inspection found that construction on Sanya's Phoenix Island caused damage to coral reefs, requiring rectification. On 28 December 2020, the Standing Committee of Sanya Municipal Committee of the CPC passed the Technical Plan for Demolition of Sanya Phoenix Island International Cruise Port Phase II.
How to minimize the impact of pollution on the environment?
We suggest that to build a coral gene bank in the waters of the two islands demolished at Phoenix Island and corals should be cultivated in large quantities. The library serves the protection and ecological construction of the coral reefs in Sanya and provides the vast South China Sea with endless coral germplasm resources. This action not only a practical response to the central government's environmental supervision but also in line with the eight key tasks for 2021 proposed at the Central Economic Work Conference last year: "To strengthen the protection and utilization of germplasm resources, and strengthen the construction of gene banks……., do a good job in carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, etc.". Turning danger into opportunity, establishing a coral gene bank in the waters of Sanya Phoenix Island will become a new highlight of Marine ecological protection.
With this, we propose the following:
1. It is suggested that the state establish a "National Coral Gene Bank" in Sanya, which composed more than 500 kinds of corals in China and also contains coral species from other sea areas in the world, including red corals;
2. It is suggested that the national coral genomics should be upgraded based on the existing Hainan coral genomics project to fully connect the current scientific research support conditions and save investment;
3. It is suggested to set up the wild coral bank in Phoenix Island, Lagoon of Lingshui Li Autonomous County, and Yongle Atoll in Sansha City. If foreign conditions permit, the overseas branch library should be set up in Indonesia, the country with the most coral in the world.
4. It is suggested that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs takes the lead and the Ministry of Science and Technology(MOSTI), the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE), the Ministry of Natural Resources (NRE), and Hainan Province participate in the implementation of national coral germplasm by organizing relevant coral reef scientific research institutions.
Translator/ Syying C
Original Chinese article
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/K0scIMtosrHgO0KW4wrfKg
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