Nature conservation programmes will never be successful if poverty still plagues the country, participants of a national seminar on biodiversity and poverty alleviation said yesterday.

Better social awareness in protecting biodiversity along with poverty alleviation should be promoted, Wang Dehui, vice-director of the Department of Nature under the State Environmental Protection Administration, said at the seminar.

Most of the country's nature reserves are located in poor and remote areas where human beings always come into conflict with wildlife for survival, Wang said.

The conflict of seeking living space between people and wild birds in Weining's Caohai Nature Reserve, for example, has led to shrinking of biodiversity and environmental deterioration in past decades, said Wu Daoquan, vice-director of Weining County, in western Guizhou.

Dubbed as the "Heaven of Cranes," the 120-square-kilometre Caohai wetland reserve is home to more than 450 wild species, including many of the nation's top level of endangered birds such as the black-necked crane, the white marabou and the white-headed crane.

However, fishing and farming activities by more than 6,500 households in the reserve have greatly affected wildlife numbers and caused environmental deterioration, which has finally affected the lives of locals, Wu said.

Thanks to several village development projects introduced in Weining in 1993 with the help of International Crane Foundation and Trickle Up Programme, the lives of local farmers have improved greatly by shifting their work from fishing and farming to other sustainable forms, such as tree-planting and breeding of water fowl.

Christine Tam, director of conservation area planning with the Nature Conservancy, a US non-government organization, said "poverty relief and conservancy are tightly connected, and we need to find a way to ensure sustainable development for both sides."

Tam told China Daily that her group has worked extensively with China in the field of environmental protection, ranging from drawing up policies and guidelines to carrying out specific projects on such issues as new energy sources and biodiversity.

The theme of this year's International Day of Biodiversity, which took place on May 23 is "Biodiversity and poverty alleviation - challenges for sustainable development."

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