Kadoorie Conservation China

Kadoorie Conservation China (KCC) is a department under Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden, which aims to minimize the loss of biodiversity and promote sustainability in China.

The department was first known as the South China Biodiversity Team (SCBT), which was set up in 1998 in response to the urgent threats faced by China's biodiversity particularly in the south. In 2003, it expanded its focus from biodiversity conservation to include promotion of sustainable agriculture and sustainable living, and was restructured to form the China Programme (CP). In 2011, it was again renamed to become Kadoorie Conservation China. The first ten years of the programme were engaged primarily in channelling reliable information about biodiversity and its threats; providing communication and cohesion within the regional conservation community; boosting the ecological capacity of conservation scientists and managers; and initiating conservation interventions, including those that brought benefits to communities around nature reserves.

Yinggeling (YGL) sits deep in the interior mountains of Hainan Island, and was never properly studied by scientists before KCC conducted a pilot survey of the area in 2003, when team members were amazed by the extent of primary rainforest and rich biodiversity. In 2005, the Provincial Forestry Department and KCC led a 3-month expedition to study the area's biodiversity value. The team of over 60 specialists discovered a wealth of exciting biodiversity, including species new to science such as the Yinggeling tree frog (Rhacophorus yinggelingensis), new records for China such as the tree Trigonobalanus verticillata, and over 160 new records for Hainan such as the tree Bretschneidera sinensis and pygmy wren-babbler (Pnoepyga pusilla). These findings underlined the irreplaceable conservation importance of YGL. However, like many other forested areas, the biodiversity value of YGL was slowly being degraded, by illegal activities such as poaching and logging. To preserve this unique biodiversity asset, KCC has supported the Hainan Provincial Forestry Department to develop YGL into a world-class nature reserve, even assigning a conservation biologist to assist in reserve management since 2006. In a span of few years YGL has accomplished some achievements in reserve management, research & monitoring, and community-based conservation.

Since 2004, KCC has been working with partners to study Hainan's limestone forest and its conservation value; researchers supported by KCC found pristine rainforest and uncovered a lot of new species and new China records in this specialised ecosystem. In 2006, KCC and Hainan Provincial Forestry Department coorganized the workshop 'Hainan Limestone Habitats and their Biodiversity' and since 2009 KCC has sponsored the construction of a reserve station, provided capacity building to the local wardens, improved their patrolling effectiveness and provided field equipment.

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