Conservation begins with saving real places - the forests and deserts, rivers and wetlands, mangroves and coral reefs that make up the web of life. But the quickening destruction of habitats and the limited resources available for their protection require clear priorities among places the world must work to save. An essential goal is representation: saving representative examples of each of the many distinctive expressions of life.

To guide this undertaking, WWF scientists have identified 238 outstanding ecoregions - terrestrial, freshwater, and marine habitat - areas that we must protect if we are to preserve the web of life. We call these the Global 200.

Ecoregion Conservation

Ecoregion conservation asks us to think, plan and act for a single ecological unit, working to conserve species, habitats and ecological processes, emphasizing partnerships and stakeholder participation, and integrating conservation goals with sustainable development. Ecoregion conservation ensures that individual projects are part of a larger strategy to conserve the full range of biodiversity in the ecoregion, not just now but for the next 50-100 years.

Using scientific research, WWF works with local partners to determine what wildlife is most important to conserve and where best to do that if the ecoregion is to remain healthy and viable. Based on this Biological Vision for the ecoregion, we use a participatory process involving stakeholders ranging from government officials to rural farmers to design a Conservation Strategy which balances conservation and human needs.

Through the Strategy, WWF can then turn vision into action to conserve nature through both protection and the sustainable use of nature's resources.

In China, WWF is focusing on four Global 200 ecoregions:

• The Forests of the Upper Yangtze (FUY) ecoregion in southwest China spans approximately 727,000km2 and includes south-central Shaanxi, south-central Gansu, most of Sichuan, and north-western Yunnan. In addition to the giant panda, these forests shelter the takin, clouded leopard, red panda, golden monkeys, and many species of pheasants and flowering plants. These forests also play a crucial role in ecological functions such as fresh water for local people, and in regulating the flow of water and nutrients in the mighty Yangtze River.
• The Tibetan Plateau is the highest and largest plateau on earth. It shelters a wide array of unique species, including the Tibetan antelope, Tibetan gazelle, wild yak, blue sheep, snow leopard, brown bear, Bengal tiger, and black-necked crane. The Tibetan Plateau is also the source of almost all of Asia's major rivers: the Yellow River, the Yangtze, the Mekong, the Salween, the Indus, and the Yarlung Tsangpo, which downstream becomes the Brahmaputra.

• The Yangtze River and Lakes ecoregion
is China's most important freshwater ecosystem. While the intensive development of the floodplain wetlands over many centuries has left few sites in this area unaltered, the Yangtze River still supports an impressive array of biological wealth, including the highly endangered Yangtze alligator and the Yangtze River dolphin, of which there are believed to be less than 70 individuals left in the wild. The Central Yangtze also provides a critical habitat for migratory birds, including 95 percent of the wintering Siberian White Crane population. One third of the 400 fish species are endemic, including the Chinese sturgeon.
• The Yellow Sea Ecoregion has been selected as an outstanding example of coastal marine ecosystems. Bordered by three countries (China, North Korea, and South Korea), there is a growing recognition of the Yellow Sea at the international level as a single unit that needs coordinated management. In July 2002, WWF-Japan and China, Wetlands & Birds Korea, and the Wetlands International-China Programme launched a joint project to conserve biodiversity in the Yellow Sea. The project encompasses two major areas – the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea.

Currently, WWF is faced with both opportunities and challenges for carrying out ecoregion conservation in China due to recent government policy initiatives. In August 1998, following a summer of devastating floods, the Chinese government announced immediate logging bans in natural forest in 17 provinces and accelerated its formulation of a nationwide Natural Forest Protection Program (NFPP). State-owned logging companies have been shut down permanently or moved toward adoption of sustainable forest management. This shift in policy is complemented by the recent Grain-to-Green policy, which aims to restore hillside agricultural lands into forest by giving grain subsidies to local communities in exchange for planting trees.

Complete implementation of the NFPP could end logging in up to 75 million acres and institute sustainable forest management in another 156 million acres nationwide - an exciting possibility for nature conservation. At the same time, up to 1 million logging company workers are now seeking other employment and county and provincial governments lost a major source of revenue.

China's central government also issued the 32 Character Policy, which integrates wetland restoration and upstream reforestation into flood mitigation. In September 2000 the Chinese Central Government launched the China Wetland Conservation Action Plan, its policy to protect wetlands. The policy covers a wide range of conservation and management issues, including protection and utilization, policy, protected areas, researching and monitoring, and public awareness.

In addition, the Chinese government recently initiated the Western China Development Program aimed at developing infrastructure and hydropower generation. Our challenge, therefore, is to integrate conservation needs with economic development policies in order to conserve biodiversity while providing people with sustainable livelihoods.