Environmental miracles in Yunnan

Collecting information

Botanists from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) and the Kunming Institute of Botany (KIB) have been collecting important information about plants in Gaoligong Shan.

This far mountain range stretches 600km along the border between China and Burma and is home to thousands of plants and animals.

The growth of towns and the building of transport systems has been fast in this area and scientists in China realised its biological diversity was at risk unless work was done immediately to collect essential information before some plants disappeared.

Using science to help

Scientists from America also joined the five-year survey, which is now almost complete, and the information is being used by the Chinese authorities to protect Gaoligong Shan from development which would harm this beautiful location and its plants.

"This has been a very important project in the partnership between RBGE and China," says Dr Mark Watson of RBGE, who has worked on the joint missions in China. "It was on a very remote border and a lot of species which had never been recorded before in China were found and some plants which had never been scientifically recorded anywhere else in the world were also recorded. There was an urgent need for this to be done."

New discoveries

As a result of Scottish and Chinese partnerships, the Chinese Government is now providing extra finance to help progress research into these special high regions of Yunnan.

Another project between Scotland and China which has produced important results is the Lijiang Project. Scientists from RBGE and KIB have discovered new plants for the first time in the Julong Xue Shan (Jade Dragon Snow Mountain) area such as mosses and liverworts.

This mountain is home to 3000 species but has suffered from climate change and over harvesting of plants for traditional medicine.

The Lijiang Project is a long-term partnership to better manage the mountain land for the good of the plants and the communities that live there.

It has also resulted in the building of the Jade Dragon Field Station and the Lijiang Alpine Botanic Garden. The Jade Dragon Field Station allows botanists from RBGE and KIB to gather plant data at a height of 3200 metres. It is Britain's first Joint Scientific Laboratory in China.

"The relationship is working well," said Dr Mark Watson. "The Field Station is a symbol of the working relationship the two countries have and has enabled us to take botanical exploration to a new level.

"The collaborative tests we are about to do on the genetics of rare Chinese plants will feed into the conservation policy and help preserve them."

A valuable resource

A long running project called The Flora of China will also conclude in 2012. Botanists from RBGE have helped Chinese and international botanists record all China's plants – over 31,000 of them.

When complete, this first English language volume will raise knowledge of this special environment, particularly Yunnan. With such caring partners, the flowers of the Yunnan province will continue to grow.