China seeks to raise invasive species awareness
Safeguarding biosecurity should be a comprehensive system: experts
China is emphasizing biosecurity as a crucial component of its national security system during the celebration of National Security Education Day that fell on Monday. Customs in numerous cities have launched a series of events to raise public awareness about preventing the spread of invasive species.
Customs in Lanzhou, Northwest China’s Gansu Province, has carried out an event on Monday to guide the public to enhance their awareness of preventing invasive alien species through interactive sessions, according to local media reports. Customs is also popularizing knowledge of prohibited animals, plants, and their products through videos, brochures and posters.
Changsha Customs also found three batches of unapproved special items, 10 batches of imported vectorial organisms, and 11 kinds of live ants, totaling 151 pieces, seized from incoming mail on four consecutive occasions.
Those activities are in line with a one-year campaign to “punish the crime of illegally introducing invasive alien species” launched by the General Administration of Customs, together with the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, starting from September 2023.
Notably, China’s General Administration of Customs on Saturday released the first public prosecution case regarding illegal introduction of an invasive alien species. It noted that the procuratorate in Zhuhai, South China’s Guangdong Province has filed an indictment against a man on suspicion of illegally bringing 2,015 Brazilian red-eared turtles into China.
Biological invasion is one of the major ecological problems facing the world. More than 660 invasive alien species have been recorded to have entered China, one of the severest levels globally, according to China Central Television.
The lack of awareness among the general public, academics and the government concerning invasive species has undermined evaluation of the national security risks they bring, Wei Sheng, a professor at the School of Public Health and Emergency Management from Southern University of Science and Technology, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
In recent years, some pet lovers in pursuit of the so-called novelty and curiosity have imported “exotic pets” from abroad through illegal means and channels. Invasive alien species that have been seized by Customs authorities include but not limited to lizards, spiders, snakes, and ants.
On Tuesday, a 14-minute video released by the National Health Commission introducing biosecurity highlighted the close link between a potential pandemic, biosecurity and the prevention of alien species. It said that when biosecurity risks caused by alien species prevail, it will have an impact on one country’s public health, economic operation as well as social order and national security.
Xu Jianchu from the Kunming Institute of Botany at the Chinese Academy of Sciences told the Global Times that we should highlight that safeguarding biosecurity is a comprehensive system, which involves academic studies, systematic surveillance and public awareness.