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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

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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.

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

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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

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Correspondence to Alex Mark Lechner.

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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

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