China to draft laws on protecting genetic resources

BEIJING - China will better protect ecosystems and push legislation on genetic resources to preserve biological diversity in 2012, the vice-minister of environmental protection said Tuesday.

Li Ganjie, the vice-minister, made remarks at a national work conference on natural and ecological protection, noting that China will conduct safety management over transgenic organisms and invasive alien species in order to preserve biological diversity.

As of the end of 2011, a total of 2,640 nature reserves had been established on the mainland, covering 14.9 percent of the country's geographic areas, Li said.

"Although rapid progress has been made in the last five years, China is still faced with arduous tasks in this field, including unstable ecological environments and deteriorating ecological functions," Li said.

Satellite monitoring conducted by the Ministry of Environmental Protection last year showed that 80 percent of the 335 national-level nature reserves are suffering from human activities.

Li reiterated that China will further improve the environmental evaluation system and strengthen supervision on the protection of nature reserves in 2012.

This year's International Biodiversity Day falls on May 22.