China's Huangyan Dao in the South China Sea has enjoyed a healthy and well-developed coral reef ecosystem, according to an official report released on Wednesday.
The Investigation and Assessment Report on Marine Ecology and Environment Status of Huangyan Dao indicates that the island has an average of live coral cover of 28.6 percent in 2024, remarkably higher than that in 2015. The reef-building coral species in the waters adjacent to the island are also in their richest quantities since the survey record was started in the area.
Coral cover is a measure of the proportion of reef surface covered by live stony coral. It is a key norm reflecting the health of coral reef ecosystems.
The replenishment of coral larvae, or coral recruit, in the waters of the island is abundant, counted more than 5 per square meter, even better than the level of the Great Barrier Reef reported in the literature.
The Huangyan Dao waters also enjoys rich biodiversity. The report said the latest survey recorded 125 species of 23 families of reef-dwelling fish, and other important ecological groups, including giant clams, crustose coralline algae, and sea anemones.
"In the northeast of Huangyan Dao, we found a fairly high coral cover of more than 30 percent in our survey. This figure is actually equivalent to the level of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. As we all know, the Great Barrier Reef is well preserved and the coral reefs there are well developed, so its coral cover is high. And our Huangyan Dao area is similar to it, which is an important feature we discovered in our survey," said Yu Kefu, a professor of Guangxi University.
Huangyan Dao enjoys well-developed coral reef ecosystem: official report
The first Regional Workshop on Implementing the Biological Weapons Convention and Promoting Biosafety and Biosecurity in Southeast Asia was held from Wednesday to Friday in Shenzhen City of south China's Guangdong Province, aiming to strengthen regional coordination and collaboration in biosecurity. The workshop was co-hosted by China and the Lao PDR, with support from the United Nations Office of Disarmament Affairs, and attended by government officials and experts from China and 11 Southeast Asian countries.
As the first national-level meeting of its kind, the workshop provided a platform for exchanging experiences and building consensus on enhancing regional and global biosecurity governance.
"This is a good platform to exchange good lessons and best practices from countries in the region and China. We have been active members of the international community and the party to the convention itself. I think this could further enhance this exchange in the coming years," said Daovy Vongxay, the Lao PDR's permanent representative-designate to the United Nations in Geneva.
The Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), referenced by Vongxay, is the first multilateral disarmament treaty to ban an entire category of weapons of mass destruction, which came into effect in 1975.
In a summary statement from the workshop, the co-chairs emphasized the importance of strengthening the international biosecurity framework, particularly through initiatives that support the BWC.
According to Sun Xiaobo, director general of the Department of Arms Control of Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China and ASEAN countries share significant consensus and have ample room for collaboration on biosecurity issues.
"Through this workshop, we hope to foster increased dialogue and pragmatic cooperation between China and ASEAN countries in the field of biosafety, contributing together to the construction of a China-ASEAN community with a shared future. This collaboration aims to bolster global governance on biosafety and contribute to world peace and security," Sun concluded.
China hosts first regional workshop on promoting biosafety, biosecurity in Southeast Asia
