The Three Gorges Botanical Garden of Rare Plants was closed last month for financial reasons.
Thousands of rare plants in the reserve which had been transplanted from their original habitat before it was submerged by the reservoir are now facing the danger of perishing because of bureaucratic indifference.
When the Three Gorges hydroelectric project was officially launched 15 years ago, the government promised that the adverse impact on the environment would be minimized. But it seems the relevant authorities have done a poor job in preserving rare plants and maintaining biodiversity in the reservoir area.
It is unfair to accuse the government of inaction. The central authorities did make some moves. The Three Gorges Office under the State Council allocated funds to finance scientific research for "rescuing rare species" and the State Forestry Bureau appropriated 3.13 million yuan ($391,250) to the Three Gorges Botanical Garden of Rare Plants. And Premier Wen Jiabao gave special instructions on how the work should be carried out.
However, there seems to have been no serious implementation of the instructions on the part of local authorities. In its five years of existence, the botanical garden has been maintained by one individual not connected with the government and the 20-plus workers he personally employed.
Xiang Xiufa, a former fish pond farmer, gave up his own business to launch the botanical garden in 2002. Supported by China's top botanists, the garden received funds from the State Forestry Bureau for its first stage of development. The money was soon used up in constructing the garden's infrastructure. Xiang sold his fishing business with its 300,000 yuan ($37,500) annual income and part of his residence to pay for transplanting wild plants and paying the workers' wages.
He and his team raced against time to rescue the wild plants from the rising water and by mid-2004 had succeeded in preserving nearly 10,000 rare plants of 175 species in the botanical garden. However, lack of money prevented him from employing qualified technicians for better management of the garden.
After Premier Wen Jiabao issued instructions on the matter in April 2005, the Chongqing municipal government made three decisions: build a highway leading to the garden; draft an overall plan for financial support to be submitted to the central government; and include the garden in the local government budget.
Not one of the decisions has been implemented. The reasons? There were a number of them: bureaucratic inaction; buck passing between government departments; and unwillingness to dig into the local treasury for a non-lucrative business; but most of all, the officials' indifference toward the protection of the rare plants.
Maybe the central government should allocate more money to help with the job. But the local government failed to draft, as it has promised, the required plan and application though two years have passed. And local officials did not do much to help Xiang despite his repeated appeals citing the premier's instructions.
A journalist who has followed Xiang's efforts for many years remarked: "He is too naive, thinking that he has won powerful support from the central and municipal leaders. He doesn't understand the rules - a distant supreme leader is not as substantially powerful as an immediate superior."
This mirrors one of the vital problems in China's administrative culture: Strong central policies end up with weak or non-existent implementation by local officials.
研究:餐巾颜色影响食物口感
欧洲最棒的中世纪古城是哪?
普京向习近平授予“圣安德烈”勋章
习近平在德国媒体发表署名文章
除了发胖、长痘 再给你五个戒掉宵夜的理由
绑带鞋为何能掀起夏日狂潮?
让留学生成瘾的“笑气”到底是啥?
章莹颖案嫌犯将出庭受审 罪名成立或被判死刑
美文赏析:决定振作,生活就会焕然一新
王者荣耀推出最强管控,小学生只能玩1小时
四川省资阳市2016-2017学年高二下学期期末考试英语试卷
国内英语资讯:Xi, Merkel launch Panda garden in Berlin zoo
Full of holes?
Dealing with exam stress 应对并克服考试压力的方法
国内英语资讯:Chinese vice premier urges system innovation to build open economy
假期不可不看的5本好书
研究:上夜班会造成DNA损伤并引发癌症
肯德基往太空发射了一个汉堡
Match、suit 和 fit 三个试衣服时会用到的动词
四川省资阳市2016-2017学年高一下学期期末考试英语试卷
美国自由女神像原来不是绿色的?
iPhone10岁啦!2007年还有哪些发明让我们印象深刻?
国内英语资讯:Commentary: Stronger China-Russia ties contribute to global stability
Kindle推出中国定制款,福利多到眼花
土耳其音乐会 流浪狗意外成网红
哪10件事最值得你花时间去做
2017中国社交媒体影响报告出炉 中老年入场90后逃离
史上最高气温出现,53度……伊朗人很无奈
No picnic 并非易事
顺丰获颁中国首张无人机空域许可证
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |