Globalization also casts its long shadow on botany. A study conducted in China by various institutions, including the Shanghai Chenshan Plant Science Research Center and the Beijing Normal University, reveals that in recent years more than 500 species of plants alien to the Chinese environment have been introduced into the country, many of which have proved to be seriously harmful to human health.
"With the rapid growth of world trade and the dizzying development of the Chinese economy" explains Chen Xiaoya, head of the Shanghai Chenshan Plant Science Research Center, "we have witnessed a real invasion of plant species alien to our country's ecosystem ”. The most "invaded" province is that of Yunnan, in southern China, with 334 species to its assets (to its 'liabilities').
The "alien" plants were mainly imported as animal fodder or as ornamental plants and come mostly from North and South America. Wan Fanghao, director of the invasive biology department of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, argues that the majority of these highly invasive species have caused much more damage to the whole biosystem, waters, forests, agricultural crops than the benefits for which they had been introduced.
For example, take the water hyacinth. Against this South American aquatic plant, imported into China from Venezuela in the XNUMXs as food for pigs, the Shanghai authorities are fighting a real battle, after hundreds of thousands of tons of water hyacinths covered the Huangpu River and blocked the irrigation channels.
To protect the country from the entry and proliferation of plant species, a special law is urgently needed, says Wang Canfa, a professor at the China University of Political Science and Law, and China is looking to Australia, where laws designed to defend the environment and local ecosystems.
Attachments: China Daily
