Many biological species in China are on the verge of extinction, which has attracted the attention of many scientists. Zhou Yunlong, professor at the School of Life Sciences of Beijing Normal University, told Beijing Science and Technology News that due to the large-scale destructive development of valuable species and the impact of Environmental pollution, climate change and other factors, China now has more than 300 natural species are threatened or disappear every year. What is particularly serious is that the disappearance of one plant often leads to a survival crisis for 10 to 30 other species of organisms. It is therefore particularly important to protect rare and endangered plants and to pay attention to their role and status in the overall biodiversity and ecosystem.
In the past, China mainly protected biological diversity through the creation ofnature reserves and in situ conservation, but results were limited. In recent years, some scientific research institutions have established a small number of working libraries to preserve seeds, but on a small scale and they cannot effectively preserve seeds for a long time. The large-scale genetic resource bank established this time in Yunnan is an ex situ conservation method, which is of great significance to the conservation of biodiversity in China. At the same time, when scientific researchers master the technology of effective long-term seed preservation, other provinces and cities can also learn from their successful experience to establish a genetic resource protection alliance to protect species valuable and endangered national resources and protect the entire ecosystem. .
The United Kingdom is awarehave long been aware of the importance of protecting biodiversity. As early as 1759, the United Kingdom began planning the construction of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. So far, the botanical garden has grown into a world-class large-scale botanical garden, bringing together more than 50,000 plant species from all over the world. there are up to 250,000 living trees. In addition, the Kew Gardens Herbarium collects 5 million specimens and the library also collects 750,000 documents and books on the world's plants. In 1974, Kew Gardens began preparations for the construction of the Millennium Seed Bank and today has over 30 years of experience in the conservation of genetic resources. Currently, the Millennium Seed Bank project, implemented in Kew Gardens in the United Kingdom, will be able to store the seeds of 24,200 species of wild plants by 2010, and this number will represent approximately 10% of the flora world wild. The constructionuction of the UK genetic resources bank provides a good example for China.
The genetic resource bank built in China was first proposed by academician Wu Zhengyi, an eminent botanist and famous botanist. In August 1999, Wu Zhengyi wrote to Premier Zhu Rongji, suggesting that it was absolutely necessary for China to establish a wild germplasm resource bank as soon as possible. This suggestion received great attention from Zhu Rongji, who quickly asked the top leaders of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Yunnan Province to carry out a feasibility study as soon as possible.
On March 9, 2004, the feasibility study report of the genetic resources bank construction project was approved by the National Development and Reform Commission, and it decided to rely on the Kunm Institute of Botanying for construction. Kunming University and Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences also participated in related construction work. In addition, the project has also been included in the major national scientific engineering construction plan.