Source: People’s Daily Online – People’s Daily
Fu Shou snails, red fire ants, grass worms… These invasive alien species pose a threat to my country’s ecological environment security and should not be underestimated.
No one is a bystander in preventing and controlling the invasion of alien species and protecting the safety of my country’s ecological environment. At present, the invasive ways of alien species mainly include three categories: natural invasion, unintentional introduction, and intentional introduction. Among them, the unintentional introduction accounted for a large part.
In recent years, with the rapid development of emerging business formats such as cross-border e-commerce and international express delivery, the risk of alien species invasion has increased significantly. Human carrying and international logistics have become new channels for alien species invasion. Illegal acts such as individuals or groups importing prohibited live animals and plants into the country through false and concealed reporting have repeatedly occurred, posing great risks to my country’s ecological security and agricultural, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery production safety. In particular, some curious pet lovers buy new exotic pets that are not naturally distributed in China from abroad through the Internet. Shenzhen Customs once intercepted live anole lizards from inbound passengers. These illegally introduced exotic pets have not been assessed for biosecurity risk, not only may they carry epidemics of animal and plant diseases, but once they escape or are abandoned, they are very likely to damage the ecosystem due to the lack of natural enemies to suppress them.
Under the current situation of the diversification of alien species invasion channels, the prevention and control of alien species invasion is by no means a matter of one department or one place, and requires the joint participation of the whole society. For ordinary people, it is our responsibility to abide by laws and regulations such as the Biosafety Law in our daily work and life, and not to illegally carry or deliver animals, plants and their products. “People’s Daily” (14th edition on April 12, 2022)