CHINA’S second national botanical garden will be built in Guangzhou, after the country’s first opened in Beijing in April. The State Council announced the approval of the establishment of the new garden last week, saying it will be built on the current South China Botanical Garden in the eastern part of Guangzhou. The new national botanical garden will be jointly constructed by the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Guangdong Provincial Government and the Guangzhou Municipal Government. Details are expected to be disclosed by the end of June. Li Junqing, a professor with Beijing Forestry University, said the establishment of the South China National Botanical Garden will play a significant role in protecting plant diversity. With Beijing located in a temperate zone and Guangzhou in a subtropical zone, the two national botanical gardens will complement each other in terms of plant diversity, said Li. Ren Hai, director of the South China Botanical Garden, said the national botanical garden will bear the responsibility of being a base for national plant diversity protection. According to Ren, 72% of China’s forest area, 85% of its grassland and 75% of its wetlands are in different degrees of degradation. “Currently about 11% of the plants in China are in danger of extinction, with more having become extinct before people know about them,” he said. Protecting plants both in their natural locations and in other locations is important in preserving plant diversity, said Ren, who is also deputy director of the Ecological Society of China. “By building national parks, nature reserves, forest parks and wetlands, and by minimizing human interference, plants and animals can grow in their natural environment.” Ren also noted that “Climate change has made some plants lose their ecological environment, therefore, they need to be moved to an artificial environment for protection. And botanical gardens are the main institutions for protecting such plants.” The South China Botanical Garden is the largest subtropical botanical garden in China, with a conservation exhibition area of 283 hectares. It’s home to more than 17,000 species of conservation plants away from their natural habitats.(China Daily) | 