Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Correspondence
  • Published:

Biodiversity conservation should be a core value of China’s Belt and Road Initiative

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 2, pages 408–409 (2018)Cite this article

Subjects

To the Editor — China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI; also known as ‘One Belt One Road’) is potentially the largest infrastructure development in our lifetime. In 2013, President Xi Jinping revealed his vision for BRI, which is expected to be core to China’s development strategy for at least the next decade1. With an estimated cost of over 4 trillion US dollars, BRI will connect roughly half of the world’s population, across more than 65 countries, with land and marine routes2,3. Although much has been discussed about its economic and geopolitical implications, the implications of BRI for biodiversity must also be considered, especially in Asia.

We challenge decision-makers, infrastructure planners and conservationists to work together not only to mitigate BRI’s negative impacts, but also to think how to transform this juggernaut into an opportunity for biodiversity. If BRI adopts biodiversity conservation as one of its core values, it could, for example, plan and implement a network of protected areas and wildlife corridors across Eurasia. In much of BRI’s region, especially in southeast, central and western Asia, there is a clear need for additional protected areas10,11 to meet the Convention on Biological Diversity’s target of 17% of terrestrial and inland water, and 10% of coastal and marine areas12 within protected areas, or even a more ambitious target. BRI could achieve this by learning from, supporting and expanding existing national initiatives in the region such as Bhutan For Life13 or Malaysia’s Central Forest Spine14, and by opportunistically promoting transboundary conservation parks and conservation activities15. Furthermore, developments under BRI need to follow best practice environmental planning such as applying strategic environmental assessments16,17 and early assessment of impacts at the feasibility stage rather than once investments have been made (before an environmental impact assessment)17. BRI should also apply the mitigation hierarchy to ensure at least no net loss of biodiversity and to aim for a net biodiversity gain that yields benefits to conservation that would not have otherwise occurred18.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Location of BRI’s terrestrial and marine routes21.

References

  1. Wang, Ye Xie. President Xi’s vision for the future OBOR strategy. CPC News (8 September 2013); http://cpc.people.com.cn/n/2013/0908/c64094-22843681.html

  2. Zhang, J. M. Malaysia says it stands to reap benefits from Belt and Road Initiative. Belt and Road Portal (30 October 2017); https://eng.yidaiyilu.gov.cn/qwyw/rdxw/32071.htm

  3. Our bulldozers, our rules. The Economist (2 July 2016); https://www.economist.com/news/china/21701505-chinas-foreign-policy-could-reshape-good-part-world-economy-our-bulldozers-our-rules

  4. The Belt and Road Initiative - WWF Recommendations And Spatial Analysis (WWF, 2017).

  5. Mittermeier, R. A. et al. Revisited: Earth's Biologically Richest and Most Endangered Ecoregions (CEMEX, Mexico City, 2004).

  6. Venter, O. et al. Nat. Commun. 7, 1–11 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Laurance, W. F. et al. Nature 513, 229–232 (2014).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Molnar, J. L., Gamboa, R. L., Revenga, C. & Spalding, M. D. Front. Ecol. Environ. 6, 485–492 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Todd, P. A., Ong, X. & Chou, L. M. Biodivers. Conserv. 19, 1063–1082 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Sodhi, N. S., Koh, L. P., Brook, B. W. & Ng, P. K. L. Trends Ecol. Evol. 19, 654–660 (2004).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. López-Pujol, J., Zhang, F. M. & Ge, S. Biodivers. Conserv. 15, 3983–4026 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. The Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020 and the Aichi Biodiversity Targets (UNEP/CBD/COP/DEC/X/2, 2010).

  13. Bhutan for Life (Government of Bhutan, 2017); http://www.bfl.org.bt

  14. CFS I: Master Plan for Ecological Linkages (Regional Planning Division, Department of Town and Country Planning, Peninsula Malaysia, 2009).

  15. Yang, D. et al. Ecosyst. Health Sustain. 2, 1–6 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Laurance, W. F. & Arrea, I. B. Science 358, 442–444 (2017).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Lechner, A. M. et al. Environ. Model. Softw. 93, 268–281 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Maron, M., Gordon, A., Mackey, B. G., Possingham, H. P. & Watson, J. E. M. Nature 523, 401–403 (2015).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Liu, J. & Diamond, J. Nature 435, 1179–1186 (2005).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Xiao, L. & Zhao, R. Science 358, 1008–1009 (2017).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. The Major Routes and the Economic Corridors of BRI (National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation of China, 2017); http://bzdt.nasg.gov.cn/jsp/browseMap.jsp?picId=%274o28b0625501ad13015501ad2bfc0083%27

  22. Myers, N., Mittermeier, R. A., Mittermeier, C. G., da Fonseca, G. A. B. & Kent, J. Nature 403, 853–858 (2000).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Cros, A. et al. PLoS ONE 9, e96332 (2014).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  24. Venter, O. et al. Sci. Data 3, 160067 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental and Geographical Sciences, University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, Jalan Broga, 43500, Semenyih, Selangor, Malaysia

    Alex Mark Lechner & Ahimsa Campos-Arceiz

  2. Mindset Interdisciplinary Centre for Environmental Studies, University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, Jalan Broga, 43500, Semenyih, Selangor, Malaysia

    Alex Mark Lechner & Ahimsa Campos-Arceiz

  3. School of Geographical Science, University of Nottingham Ningbo China, Ningbo, 315100, China

    Faith Ka Shun Chan

  4. Institute of Asia Pacific Studies (IAPS), Belt and Road Initiative Research Priorities Area, University of Nottingham Ningbo China, Ningbo, 315100, China

    Faith Ka Shun Chan

  5. School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK

    Faith Ka Shun Chan

Authors
  1. Alex Mark Lechner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Faith Ka Shun Chan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ahimsa Campos-Arceiz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alex Mark Lechner.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Lechner, A.M., Chan, F.K.S. & Campos-Arceiz, A. Biodiversity conservation should be a core value of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Nat Ecol Evol 2, 408–409 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0452-8

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0452-8

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing