CHINA has launched a special three-year campaign targeting foreign species to protect the country’s ecosystem.

The General Administration of Customs said in a notice that the campaign aims to crack down on the introduction, handling, delivery and smuggling of these species. During the first half of this year, customs officials found 1,405 live animals and plants while conducting inspections of inbound deliveries and travelers, the administration said.

With the rapid development of international trade and frequent people-to-people exchanges, there are increasingly more ways for foreign species to be brought into the country, the administration said.

Customs officials in Fuzhou, Fujian Province, recently came across 24 Indian jumping ants while inspecting imported goods. They were found in a test tube with cotton and nutrients.

And in Jinling, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, customs officials discovered 378 harvester ants in inbound deliveries.

Li Chunding, a professor at China Agricultural University, said that with no natural predators, foreign species could have a severely negative impact on the nation’s agricultural production and overall ecology. Some may be toxic, while others may be exceptional breeders or be very destructive, so efforts need to be made to address the problem of their presence at its source, he said.

(China Daily)