Wild animals are an important part of all life and natural ecosystems on earth, and their survival is closely related to the sustainable development of human beings.
The Party and the state attach great importance to the cause of wildlife protection, and formulate and continuously improve wildlife conservation. The current wildlife conservation** was enacted in 1988, amended three times in 2004, 2009 and 2018, and revised in 2016.
On December 30, 2022, the 38th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress voted to approve the revised wildlife protection**, which will come into force on May 1, 2023.
The current wildlife conservation has played an important role in strengthening the protection and rescue and breeding of wild animals and their habitats, maintaining biodiversity, and promoting the construction of ecological civilization. In 2021, the journey of Yunnan elephants to the north and back showed the world the achievements of China's wildlife protection. The wild population of giant pandas has increased from 1,114 in the seventies and eighties of the last century to 1,864, the wild population of crested ibises has increased from 7 in 1981 to more than 6,000, the wild population of Tibetan antelopes has increased from 70,000 to about 300,000, the number of finless porpoises has stabilized at more than 1,000, and wild horses and elk, which have disappeared in the wild, have re-established wild populations. The first batch of national parks, including Sanjiangyuan, Giant Panda, Northeast Tiger and Leopard, Hainan Tropical Rainforest, and Wuyi Mountain, have been established, and a number of important habitats for wild animals have been demarcated, and more than 70% of the populations of wild animals under national key protection have been effectively protected.
The revision of wildlife protection implements the idea of ecological civilization and the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, strengthens the protection and restoration of important ecosystems, adheres to the principles of protection first, standardized utilization, and strict supervision, actively responds to social concerns, further improves the wildlife protection and management system, increases the punishment of illegal acts, and does a good job of connecting with relevant laws such as the Biosecurity Law, the Animal Epidemic Prevention Law, and the Animal Husbandry Law, upholding the concept of ecological civilization, promoting green development, and promoting the harmonious coexistence of man and nature.
On December 30, Yue Zhongming, director of the Economic Law Office of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, explained the main contents of the revision of the law.
Strengthen the protection of wildlife habitats.
Embody the spirit of establishing a nature reserve system with national parks as the main body, and clearly classify important wildlife habitats into national parks, nature reserves and other nature reserves for strict protection in accordance with the law.
Include terrestrial wildlife with important ecological, scientific, and social value in the scope of emergency rescue, strengthen the capacity for shelter and rescue of wildlife, establish shelter and rescue sites, and allocate corresponding professional and technical personnel, rescue tools, equipment, and medicines.
Refine measures for the regulation and control of wildlife populations.
With the continuous improvement of China's ecological environment and the effective recovery of wild animal populations, wild boars and other wild animals have flooded in some places, endangering the safety of people's personal and property and agricultural and animal husbandry production.
The newly revised wildlife protection provisions for this purpose: first, the people's wildlife protection departments at or above the county level may, on the basis of the investigation, monitoring and assessment of wild animals and their habitats, adopt population control measures such as ex situ protection and hunting for species whose population clearly exceeds the environmental capacity, and handle and comprehensively utilize wild animals hunted under population control in accordance with relevant national regulations; At the same time, it is clear that isolation and protection facilities should be built and safety warning signs should be set up according to the actual situation and needs to prevent the harm that may be caused by wild animals.
The second is to expand the scope of financial subsidies for the prevention and control of harmful diseases from national key protected wild animals to other terrestrial wild animals that cause serious harm. (3) Where measures are taken in an emergency situation where wildlife endangers personal safety and harm is caused to wildlife is caused, legal responsibility is not borne in accordance with law.
Strengthen the prevention and control of alien species.
The invasion of alien species destroys the ecological balance, and it is necessary to prevent and control the invasion of alien species.
The newly revised Wildlife Conservation Act clearly stipulates that wildlife species introduced from abroad shall not be illegally released or discarded, and those who truly need to release them into the wild shall comply with the provisions of relevant laws and regulations; Where wildlife from outside the county is found to be causing harm to the ecosystem, the relevant departments for the protection of people's wildlife at the county level or above shall employ corresponding safety control measures. At the same time, regulate wildlife release activities, and require the wildlife protection departments to strengthen the regulation and guidance of wildlife release activities in conjunction with relevant departments.
Do a good job of linking up with the relevant decisions of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.
On February 24, 2020, the 16th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress passed the Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on Comprehensively Banning Illegal Wildlife Trade, Eradicating the Bad Xi of Indiscriminate Consumption of Wild Animals, and Effectively Protecting People's Life, Health and Safety.
The revised wildlife protection clearly prohibits the consumption of wildlife under national key protection and terrestrial wildlife with important ecological, scientific, and social value under national protection, as well as other terrestrial wildlife, and prohibits the hunting, trading, and transportation of terrestrial wildlife that grow and breed naturally in the wild environment for the purpose of eating; At the same time, the punishment for relevant violations will be increased. The public shall resist the illegal consumption of wild animals and develop a civilized and healthy lifestyle.
Improve the management system for wild animals with mature and stable artificial breeding technology.
Populations with mature and stable artificial breeding technology have reduced their "wildness" and changed their genetic traits, so differentiated management measures should be implemented with wild populations.
The current wildlife protection system has made provisions for the management system of wild animals under national key protection with mature and stable artificial breeding technology, and this amendment extends this system to terrestrial wild animals with important ecological, scientific and social value, and according to the protection of wild populations, artificial populations that do not depend on wild resources, mature and stable technology, and have a certain scale of breeding can no longer be included in the list of terrestrial wild animals with important ecological, scientific and social value, and implement different management measures from wild populations. However, the management of filing and special identification shall be carried out in accordance with law.
A part of these artificial populations may be included in the catalogue of livestock and poultry genetic resources in accordance with the provisions of the Animal Husbandry Law, and managed in accordance with livestock and poultry; The other part can not be managed as wild animals, and its artificial populations and their products can be appropriately released to meet the diversified needs of the market and promote the development of related industries.
Create a good atmosphere for the whole society to protect wild animals.
Doing a good job in the implementation of wildlife protection requires the joint efforts of all sectors of society. Yue Zhongming said that it is necessary to strengthen legal publicity, interpretation and guidance. **Relevant departments and localities should speed up the formulation and improvement of relevant supporting provisions, improve the coordination mechanism for joint law enforcement work, strictly enforce the law, strengthen the connection between administrative law enforcement and criminal justice, crack down on illegal and criminal acts in accordance with the law, and achieve a win-win situation for ecological environmental protection and high-quality economic development.
At the same time, international cooperation and exchanges on wildlife conservation should be strengthened. The public should enhance their awareness of wildlife protection, actively participate in wildlife protection efforts, and create a good atmosphere for the protection of wildlife in the whole society.
*: People's Court Daily.
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