China has become one of the countries hardest hit by over 500 invasive species, threatening its biodiversity and agricultural production, authorities have said.
A total of 529 non-indigenous species have invaded the country since the 1980s, said Wang Yanliang, a Ministry of Agriculture official in charge of ecological and resources protection, at a meeting about invasive species in Chongqing Municipality yesterday.
Since the 1980s, China has seen fast growth in the number of introduced species that have adversely affected the ecosystem, he said.
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Chongqing Municipality, located in mountainous southwest China, boasts a rich ecology.
Over the past four years, however, more than 50 non-indigenous species have dominated an area of two million hectares in the city.
China has established a research center to tackle the problem and issued a catalogue of dangerous exotic species prohibited by the country.