The big environmental stories in the Chinese media (2 - 8 April)
On the last day of March, China’s top customs body launched a campaign against the illegal import of alien species, including seeds and seedlings.
The General Administration of Customs of China (GACC) announced it will closely watch postal services and transnational e-commerce channels for such imports and deploy AI to aid interception. It will also ratchet up punitive measures against violations.
This comes before the new Biosecurity Law comes into effect on 15 April, which has a mandate to “prevent encroachment by alien species and preserve biodiversity.”
According to the GACC, from 2015 to 2020, customs intercepted nearly 9,000 species regarded as “harmful”. In last year alone, customs agencies across the country made 69,500 interceptions of species, both plants and animals, coming from 102 countries.
In recent years, the burgeoning exotic pet market has increased imports of live animals. Last December, customs in Hunan intercepted four ant species sent in packages from Australia. So far the destructive and sometimes lethal red fire ant, native to South America, has spread into 12 Chinese provinces.
Although the upcoming Biosecurity Law has stipulations on invasive species, there is no dedicated law or regulations on the prevention and control of such species. In 2017, the ministries of agriculture and of forestry started drafting the Regulations on the Management of Alien Species, but that is still ongoing. The Biosecurity Law coming into force next week may speed up the process.
(Sources: China Dialogue)
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