There is profound interest in knowing the degree to which China's institutions are capable of protecting its natural forests and biodiversity in the face of economic and political change. China's 2 most important forest-protection policies are its National Forest Protection Program (NFPP) and its national-level nature reserves (NNRs). The NFPP was implemented in 2000 in response to deforestation-caused flooding. We undertook the first national, quantitative assessment of the NFPP and NNRs to examine whether the NFPP achieved its deforestation-reduction target and whether the NNRs deter deforestation altogether. We used MODIS data to estimate forest cover and loss across mainland China (2000-2010). We also assembled the first-ever polygon dataset for China's forested NNRs (n = 237, 74,030 km(2) in 2000) and used both conventional and covariate-matching approaches to compare deforestation rates inside and outside NNRs (2000-2010). In 2000, 1.765 million km(2) or 18.7% of mainland China was forested (12.3% with canopy cover of ≥70%)) or woodland (6.4% with canopy cover <70% and tree plus shrub cover ≥40%). By 2010, 480,203 km(2) of forest and woodland had been lost, an annual deforestation rate of 2.7%. Forest-only loss was 127,473 km(2) (1.05% annually). In the NFPP provinces, the forest-only loss rate was 0.62%, which was 3.3 times lower than in the non-NFPP provinces. Moreover, the Landsat data suggest that these loss rates are overestimates due to large MODIS pixel size. Thus, China appears to have achieved, and even exceeded, its target of reducing deforestation to 1.1% annually in the NFPP provinces. About two-thirds of China's NNRs were effective in protecting forest cover (prevented loss 4073 km(2) unmatched approach; 3148 km(2) matched approach), and within-NNR deforestation rates were higher in provinces with higher overall deforestation. Our results indicate that China's existing institutions can protect domestic forest cover.

Biodiversity conservation plays an important role in the sustainable development of human society. China had made significant progress in biodiversity conservation studies and practices. This paper reviews major achievements in China in the past decades, especially those since 2010. In terms of the science behind biodiversity conservation, Chinese scholars have made significant contributions to priority research subjects, including mechanisms for maintaining biological communities and the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Simultaneously, biodiversity conservation and management systems specific to China have been basically established. The Chinese Government and researchers have undertaken a number of investigations, scientific studies, and monitoring, and have established relevant databases. With efforts taken to protect and restore biodiversity and ecosystems, the concept of biodiversity has gradually become popular in China. This review is an attempt to share with the world the learning from China’s progress towards becoming an ecological civilization and highlights that the efforts towards biodiversity conservation need to be organically integrated with sustainable development goals.

China is a mega-diverse country, harboring more than 30,000 vascular plant species and about 2340 terrestrial vertebrate species, about half of which are found exclusively in China ([ 1 ][1]). The conservation of this unique flora and fauna strongly depends on China's protected areas. Currently,