We must find a way to balance nature and humans

I am pessimistic about attempts to arrest the rapid loss of wildlife species globally as a result of human activity.

I believe that whatever humans do to the planet, good or bad, is part of the natural order of things.

Sometimes when I interview scientists and wildlife conservation groups who spare no efforts to protect global biodiversity, I ask myself, "Why not just simply let them be?" After all, nature will reshuffle things unexpectedly, like events in the last ice age.

Despite all that devotion, chivalrous in the eyes of humans, the effect is actually marginal.

I threw this question at Jiang Xuelong, a primatologist with the Kunming Institute of Zoology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. His response is worth thinking about.

"What scientists do is not only study certain wild species, but also figure out ways to protect them from extinction. After all, we will have many new generations in the foreseeable future, and we should respect their right to see wild animals and plants in the flesh," he said.

I think the responsibility Jiang shoulders is the same as many others bear. In recent decades, the government, the general populace and social groups have made combined efforts and saved some wild species from the edge of extinction.

Several times in the past three years, infrared cameras in Qinghai province have captured footage of animals unseen since the 1990s as a result of excessive hunting.

They include snow leopards and Chinese mountain cats, which are both listed as "vulnerable" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

In December, seven alpine musk deer－classified as "endangered" on the IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species－were sighted in Qinghai's Three-River-Source National Park.

Moreover, a herd of about 100 wild red deer, which are under State protection, was observed by rangers at the park in February.

Similar sightings have been reported in coastal waters. In June, a Bryde's whale, a Class 1 protected species, was spotted by fishermen in Dapeng Bay near Shenzhen, Guangdong province. It was only the second time in 16 years that a Bryde's whale had appeared in the bay.

According to the book Chinese Cetaceans, the previous sighting was in 2005 near Sha Tau Kok in Hong Kong.

While the importance of biodiversity has become more widely understood and also gained assistance from society as a whole, we face a new challenge－that of engineering a balanced relationship between biodiversity and the development of human society.

During the first half of this year, news reports about the migration of a herd of wild Asian elephants that approached Kunming, capital of the southwestern province of Yunnan, and conflict between raccoon dogs and local residents in Shanghai demonstrated the urgent need for a solution.

A new management system for the country's natural resources should be established, and we need to find more innovative ways to maintain good relations between humans and wildlife.

The system should contain tailored plans on the protection of species, allied to habitat rehabilitation, management, financial support, related laws and regulations.

All the above may be negligible in the long history of evolution, but they are meaningful to every species being protected and also to humans. The animals' right to life should be guarded with care.