Beijing national office.^62 The Nature Conservancy’s commitment to this region
is for the next 5–10 years;^63 although more a catalyst than a status quo
conservation organization, its annual expenditure of US$4.5 million and wide
range of partnerships suggest that it is positively influencing biodiversity
conservation efforts.
A second example is the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). It has
been involved in conservation activities in China for nearly 25 years, but its
Beijing office was not established until 1996. Most of its earlier work was
coordinated from Hong Kong. In 2005, WWF is China’s second largest INGO,
with an office staff of 20 and a 2002 budget of around US$400000. It began
its work in China in 1979 by assisting the government in the establishment of
the Wolong Giant Panda Reserve. The panda is WWF’s logo in China, and it
continues panda preservation efforts in the Minshan region, in the Qinling
Panda Focal Project (Shaanxi Province) and supports surveys and studies on
pandas and their habitats. Also, it has been active in the restoration of wetlands
on the Yangtze, development of sustainable ecotourism projects, and wetlands
conservation in Tibet.^64 In 2001 the organization launched a China species
preservation program, emphasizing protection of less well-known species. It
gives RMB$5000 (about US$617) grants for investigative and species
preservation work.^65
International NGOs in China are relatively specialized in their areas of
operation. The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), in Beijing since
1994, has been most active in monitoring protection of endangered species,
such as the Asian elephant and Tibetan antelope. Wetlands International has
been in China since 1995 and monitors PAs in which there are wetlands
(around 300). Greenpeace has had a program office in Beijing since 2002 and
has focused on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and biosafety issues.
Conservation International (CI) established a program office in Beijing in
2002; its major project is in the mountains of southwest China hotspot where
it maps sacred sites, assesses their biodiversity values, documents and gathers
indigenous knowledge and works with local grassroots NGOs to assist in their
capacity building.^66 The International Crane Foundation (ICF) specializes in
bird species conservation and also is active in preservation of wetlands.
INGOs in China are especially valued for the funding they import for
environmental work, collectively estimated to amount to US$100 million
annually. They support grassroots ENGOs in Beijing and other locales, and
connect them to other INGOs, to foreign governments, and other international
funding sources.
Civil Society and China’s NGOs
China’s ENGOs are at an early stage of evolution when compared even to
180 Governance of biodiversity conservation in China and Taiwan