Dylan 1

Dylan Franco
Sund
IB Environmental Systems and Societies
5 September 2018
Diversity in Southwestern Chinese Mountains
China is home to one of the most diverse ecosystems on the Earth in a temperate
climate zone. The center for this wide range of flora and fauna is the Mountains of Southwest
China Hotspot, located on the border of the Tibetan plateau and the Chengdu basin. Around
12,000 unique plant species inhabit this hotspot-one of the most diverse temperate ecosystems
on the planet. Around 3,500 of these species are only found at this hotspot. 40% of the plant
species in China live in this area. There can be up to 600 unique bird species inhabiting this
hotspot, although only one of them is endemic. In this hotspot, 230 different species of
mammals are found, of those the Giant Panda, the Red Panda and the Snow Leopard live
within this hotspot. 90 reptile species take home in these mountains and 15 of these scales
animals only live in these mountains. There are 180 different amphibians and fishes that swim in
the waters within and around the region. State owned logging companies had unrealistic
production quotas during the 1950s to 1998 which caused major habitat loss to many endemic
species. The chinese medicinal industry uses many species of plants to make herbal remedies,
but these plants are harvested unsustainably and have led to disappearance of native species
from the wild.. Human populations in China require more infrastructure to live, meaning habitats
are being destroyed to accommodate.
State-run logging companies put forest ecosystems under major pressure during the
1950s to the late 1990s. This is because the chinese government set up a system of quotas for
forestry enterprizes to meet, unfortunately, political or economic reasons usually caused timber
production to overrun the system that manages these quotas. At around the end of the quota
driven forestry, the 1990s, timber markets were opened to the many enterprises run by different
governmental levels. These stresses, coupled with the push more agricultural development led
to 85 percent of the Upper Yangtze river’s old-growth forests being cleared. Dozens of native
plants and animals have been exploited to the point of them only appearing in

Lopez-Pujol, Jordi, et al. “Mountains of Southern China as “Plant Museums” and “Plant Cradles”:
Evolutionary and Conservation Insights
.” ​PLOS Biology​, Public Library of Science, 2011, doi.org/10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-11-00058.1.

“Mountains of Southwest China - Threats.” ​Mediterranean Basin - Threats | CEPF​, Critical Ecosystem Partnership
Fund, 2002, www.cepf.net/our-work/biodiversity-hotspots/mountains-southwest-china/threats.
 Dylan 2

strictly-maintained reserves or have disappeared altogether from the environment. The

unsustainable harvest of non-timber products from the forests in this hotspot is allowed because
of the poor law enforcement and management in these regions. The overharvest of products
that are not timber is because of the lumber felling ban of 1998, the overharvest of these
organisms also help stimulate the local economies as money can be made.. There is a lack of
infrastructure in China due to its massive population so government officials want to expand it.
What they don’t take into consideration is the stability of the environment and how the
infrastructure affects the ecosystems that it is constructed upon. Development programs that
encourage the access of basic essentials such as water, road, television and telephone access
for every village in China usually don’t do environmental impact assessments or other
conservationist plans to mitigate damage to the environment. Increased road access may also
lead to the increase of illegal harvesting and trade of non-timber products from forests, but it
allows for the better movement of the chinese people.. The chinese government enacted the
Natural Forest Protection Program in an effort to curb the destruction of the habitats that many
animals live in. This has cut much of the exploitation of the Chinese woodlands, but many
citizens rely on firewood to heat their homes and cook food. The harvest of firewood from
collective forests is permitted under the NFPP to allow this as the average chinese household
will use at least 10 to 30 cubic meters of firewood per year. Many chinese citizens before the
ban most of the firewood collected was from state forest clearing sites as wood was plentiful
there. Many villages in China use a collective area of forest to gather firewood from. This system
is often unsustainable and many residents just cut more than they need as management of the
harvest is not sufficient. Even though the Mountains of Southwestern China hotspot is and has
been under the threats of logging, exploitation of flora and fauna and the ever increasing
population has constantly put great pressures on this hotspot. This diverse ecosystem is being
conserved through efforts by the Chinese Government and conservationists.

Lopez-Pujol, Jordi, et al. “Mountains of Southern China as “Plant Museums” and “Plant Cradles”:
Evolutionary and Conservation Insights
.” ​PLOS Biology​, Public Library of Science, 2011, doi.org/10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-11-00058.1.

“Mountains of Southwest China - Threats.” ​Mediterranean Basin - Threats | CEPF​, Critical Ecosystem Partnership
Fund, 2002, www.cepf.net/our-work/biodiversity-hotspots/mountains-southwest-china/threats.