Yunnan steps up biodiversity protection

Southwest China's Yunnan province has taken measures to protect biodiversity in recent years, local authorities said.

The province has continuously carried out species rescue and protection efforts, especially for plant species with extremely small populations, or PSESP, said Wang Weibin, deputy director of the provincial forestry and grassland administration.

More than 120 rescue and protection projects targeting such plants have been implemented in the last five years, and 30 protection zones of different sizes have been marked. With these projects and zones, Yunnan is effectively preserving and restoring incredibly rare plants, such as Pinus squamata, or the Qiaojia pine, he said.