China urges greater wildlife protection efforts

Greater efforts from the government and public are needed to protect China's wildlife, a promotional campaign on Sunday urged. The launch of the campaign in Beijing by the State Forestry Administration was attended by foreign embassies' representatives as well as officials from the United Nations Environment Programme and the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A campaign press release said environmental pollution, logging and illegal trading remained a threat to wildlife and their habitats. The government and public need to take more measures to improve protection. Under joint efforts by the government and the public, the situation of more than 70 extremely endangered species, such as wild pandas and crested ibis, is improving. Habitats are also improving, according to the press release. The campaign came ahead of World Wildlife Day on Monday. The United Nations General Assembly decided March 3 as World Wildlife Day, to celebrate and raise awareness of the world's wild fauna and flora. China introduced special protection for endangered species, such as pandas, golden monkeys and white-flag dolphins, in the late 1980s, and strictly banned poaching and trading. The country also led an operation code-named Cobra II against international wildlife crimes between Dec. 30, 2013 and Jan. 26, 2014. The operation cracked over 350 cases involving the capture of more than three tonnes of ivory and ivory products, over 1,000 hides and a number of other wildlife products. The Chinese government also destroyed 6.1 tonnes of confiscated ivory it had seized over the years in January in south China's Guangdong Province.