Latest comments posted about Letting nature heal itself on ChinaDialogue en-gb http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/2226-Letting-nature-heal-itself http://staging.chinadialogue.net/images/cdlogo.gif http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/2226-Letting-nature-heal-itself Mr. Jiang made a good point in his article. The preservation of ecosystems and the restoration of biodiversity should follow the principles of nature. Protection of giant pandas essentially comes down to protection of their habitats. The same applies to Wolong National Nature Reserve. We must not seize any more wildlife habitat in order to rebuild and expand giant panda rehabilitation bases. As part of our responses to the Sichuan Earthquake, we ought to step up or revise the formulation of plans for returning giant pandas to the wild. This is the ultimate goal of ex-situ conservation. The governmental wildlife protection agencies should emphasize protecting natural reserves, not industrializing natural reserves. (Comment translated by Yang bin) Wed, 30 Jul 2008 21:15:20 +0000 http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/summary/2226#comment-7726 http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/summary/2226#comment-7726 The Biota there has been adapted to fire, some plant seeds actually have to go through the fire to be able to germinate. In that case it's just another story. Wed, 30 Jul 2008 19:07:21 +0000 http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/summary/2226#comment-7724 http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/summary/2226#comment-7724 I was in Yellowstone National Park a few weeks ago. In 1988, a big forest fire occurred, and you can still see many burnt trees. You can also see many trees growing in already from 1 to 20 feet tall. This is because seeds were contained in the pine cones, sealed by a glue. When the fire happened, it melted the glue and the seeds fell all over the ground. Another example of Mother Nature watching out for herself. Some fires are caused naturally by lightning, unfortunately they traced the big 1988 fire to a cigarette butt. sustainablejohn Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:48:30 +0000 http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/summary/2226#comment-7703 http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/summary/2226#comment-7703 Where human pressures such as farming, wood cutting, and fire can be minimized, natural restoration of land has a chance given sufficient time just as Professor Gaoming Jiang points out. Some degraded lands of South China however show only slight recovery even after 200 years where such pressures have not been removed. This land damage is reflected in some historic art works as well as on site today. (See)http://fas.org/blog/china/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/art.pdf. Walter Parham parham305@aol.com Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:54:43 +0000 http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/summary/2226#comment-7687 http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/summary/2226#comment-7687 Professional comments, bravo! translated by Lijin Zeng Sun, 20 Jul 2008 08:28:04 +0000 http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/summary/2226#comment-7685 http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/summary/2226#comment-7685 I agree with Mr. Jiang. As human beings our task is to save other human beings of our kind. Leave the ecosystems to the nature. We could easily do more damage than help if we insist on interfering the natural course, not to mention the possible corruption during our interference. (This comment was translated by Zheng Shen) Sun, 20 Jul 2008 03:17:25 +0000 http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/summary/2226#comment-7683 http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/summary/2226#comment-7683