★Terms of Reference ★From the Co-Chairs ★Co-sponsors
★BWG Members of Phase I★BWG Members of Phase II★Workplan of BWG

Introduction to Biodiversity Working Group China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development

Established in 1992, the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED) is a high level non-governmental advisory body of the State Council of China. Every year, each working group under CCICED submits its report to the Council based on its studies and investigation which experts from international community and China worked together in the past year. CCICED members and Co-chairs of the working groups held an annual Council Meeting where formal recommendations from WGs are approved and submitted directly to the Chinese Government.

Among the six working groups in various disciplines at the beginning of the CCICED, expanded to eight, the Biodiversity Working Group (BWG) is the only one dealing with living resources, i.e. biodiversity including species, ecosystems and genetic diversity. The purpose of the BWG is to strengthen cooperation and exchange experiences between China and the international community in the field of biodiversity conservation. It is aiming at evaluating the current status and key problems of biodiversity conservation in China, and formulating key recommendations for conserving China's biodiversity through the Council to the national or provincial governments accordingly.　

　
　　Premier Zhu Rongji met with CCICED members and WGs' Co-chairs(2000)

From the Co-Chairs:

We are herewith presenting a brief introduction to the Biodiversity Working Group (BWG) of China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED). Since its establishment in 1992, the BWG has been engaging in key projects and activities in the field of biodiversity, e.g. including its economic value, in situ and ex situ conservation, its use and trade, its restoration linking with the west development and converting farmland into forest or grassland in China, its information management, invasive alien species, public awareness and communication, and CBD implementation, etc. As a result of these activities, a number of recommendations have been submitted to the government through the CCICED. We are most grateful to our members or invited experts, international and national, present or past, and to those donors for their valuable contribution.
It is our pleasure that some of the output from the BWG has been proved to be essential and functional, and those remained would be so recorded in history for its rationality.
We are cordially looking forward to having further cooperation with all of you in the forthcoming phase.

Peter Schei and Wang Sung

TERMS OF REFERENCE OF THE BWG

1. Create a fertile forum for exchange of ideas and approaches whereby China has access to wider experience beyond her borders and where managers can network with scientists and technicians to solve issues of policy, strategy and action in the field of Biodiversity Conservation.
2. Provide a mechanism whereby priority needs identified by scientists and technicians can be brought to the attention of relevant leaders and decision-makers through a multisectoral forum.
3. Provide an independent view of China's biodiversity and advise the government on areas of concern or sectoral failure.
4. Provide advice and assistance as needed in China's participation in international biodiversity conventions and programs to ensure that China gets maximal benefit from these mechanisms and also presents the most favourable international image of its considerable biodiversity achievements.
5. Initiate studies to demonstrate the contribution of biodiversity conservation to regional economic development in selected ecosystems in China and identify both factors that threaten such systems and appropriate remedies to ensure the sustainability of such benefits.

ph:（1）

ph:(2)

ph:(3)

(1).Dr.Song Jian, Chair of the CCICED Phase I, talking with BWG Co-chairs (1993)
(2).Dr.Xie Zhenhua, former Secretary General and present Vice Chairman of CCICED, attended the BWG's1^st annual meeting in 1993.
(3).Discussion of working plans at the first meeting of the BWG, Beijing,1992.

BWG Members of Phase I

List of BWG Members (Phase I, 1992-1997)
WANG Sung	Professor, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) (Co-chair)
CHEN Yiyu	Vice-President, CAS
CHEN Lingzhi	Institute of Botany,CAS
QING Jianhua	Director, Bur. of Conservation, Ministry of Forestry
WANG Xianpu	Institute of Botany, CAS
John MacKinnon	Director, Asian Bureau of Conservation & Kent University (Co-chair)
Mark Collins	Director, WCMC
Charles Barber	World Resources Institute
Steven Edwards	Sustainable Use Programme / IUCN
Andrew Smith	Professor,Arizona State University
Jeff McNeely	Biodiversity Programme / IUCN
Eduardo Fuentes	Biodiversity Programme / GEF, UNDP
de facto members:
XU Zaifu	Director, Xishuanbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, CAS, Yunnan
LI Dianmo	Deputy Director, Institute of Zoology, CAS
WANG Zongyi	Beijing Academy of Science and Technology

BWG Members of Phase II

Members of the BWG (Phase II, 1998-2002):

Wang Sung	Inst. Zool., CAS; CCICED Councillor (Co-chair)
Jin Jianming	State Environment Protection Administration
Qing Jian-hua	China Wildlife Conservation Foundation
Zhu Mingyuan	First Institute of Oceanography, SOA
Li Dianmo	Inst. Zool., CAS
Zhao Shidong	CAS/SPC's Nat. Res. Integ. Survey Comm.
Ma Keping	Inst.Bot.,CAS
Peter Schei	Directorate for Nature Management, Norway (Co-chair)
Andrew Smith	Dept.Biology, Arizona State Univ.
Robert Hoffmann	Div. Mammals, Smithsonian Institution
John MacKinnon	ARCBC (ASEAN Regional Center for biodiversity Conservation);
Jeff McNeely	IUCN-Chief Scientist
Jim Harkness	Director, WWF-China Programme Office
Kunio Kikuchi	National Wildlife Research Center, Japan

2001 Workplan of BWG

The working group is too small to undertake large scale new research programmes. Rather its role is to filter through the findings of the considerable volume of research completed and in progress in China and to bring to bear the findings and techniques developed outside of China to deal with similar conditions, to enable the working group to present to the Council its findings on the state of various aspects of biodiversity conservation. However, the working group has undertaken original studies where certain vital data were lacking such as on levels of international wildlife trade, levels of utilisation of wildlife in traditional Chinese medicine, ex-situ and in-situ conservation and studies aimed at evaluating the benefits brought to the Chinese economy from biodiversity products and services. Now, the group has started research and survey in new areas, such as invasive species and forestry restoration, Red listing of Chinese endangered species. Efforts has been also put on field guides to birds and mammals in China. In addition, the working group is building up an effective China Species Information System (CSIS).

Co-sponsors
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Canadian International Development Agency
European Union
Norweign Government
British Government Environment Project Fund
WWF-China
China Byte

Acknowledgements are sincerely addressed to these Co-sponsors!