Abstract:

China’s key protected species lists include the List of State Key Protected Wild Animals (LSKPWA), the List of Terrestrial Wildlife with Important Ecological, Scientific and Social Values, and the lists of local key protected wild animals. After the amendment and implementation of the Wild Animal Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China in 2017, the revision of the LSKPWA is on the agenda. In order to revise the list of the state key protected species, the relationship between these lists should be delineated to reflect the priority of protection and to facilitate administration and to divide the responsibility of protection between the central and local governments. It is recommended to determine the level of key protected wildlife species according to their attributes of endangerment, endemism, rareness, preciousness and management requirement. By adopting the Principle of Clump Listing, related species or the higher taxa such as a whole genus even a whole family should be included in the lists of protected species as far as possible. It is also practical to list a subspecies or a population as a management unit on the species protection list. In addition, to reflect the new provisions of the amended Wild Animal Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China, it is necessary to distinguish domesticated and wild populations, those populations which have been artificially successfully bred with mature technology and stable production traits should be exempted from the listing. Thus, using the Principle of Splitting Listing to solve the real problems in conservation. In addition, taxonomic changes should be closely tracked and species list should be updated in time. It is also necessary to formulate criteria for protection levels, to develop guidelines for species recovery plan after their listing and to design amendment procedure for the list. It is important to formulate populations and habitats recovery plan for each key protected species. Through periodic evaluation of the listed species, the listed species are upgraded, downgraded, deleted or maintain its status for the needs of dynamic management of rare and endangered wild animals.

Key words: species conservation, protected species list, criteria of key protected species, Principle of Clump Listing, Principle of Splitting Listing