Study On The Legislation Of Preventing And Controlling Alien Invasive Species

In recent years, biological diversity is facing serious threats, the extinction of species accelerates, and genetic diversity is in a dramatically poor state, natural ecosystems have degenerated seriously. In many factors, the invasion of alien species has become the main reason for the loss of biological diversity. International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) has listed the invasion of alien species as the second threat which destroys the biological diversity, and which is only inferior to the habitat destruction.Under natural conditions, rivers, oceans, deserts, mountains and other natural barriers make most species evolve along their own unique evolutionary track in specific areas. In modern times, war, immigration, trade, tourism and other human activities gradually break the original routes of transmission of natural species, with communications and transportation develops. Many species migrate from the original ecosystems to new ecosystems along with the expansion of human. This "bio-immigrant" is alien species for the new ecosystem. Not all alien species are invasive and will cause damage. If some species find suitable ecological niches in the new habitat, proliferate in the absence of competition or natural enemies, threaten the survival of native species, and endanger the native biological diversity and ecosystem, the situation of invasion will be formed.The harm of alien invasive species to ecological safety and biological diversity has gained more and more attention of international society. Many countries have enacted a large number of legal documents. Japan promulgated the "Act of prevention the invasion of alien species" in 2004.It manage and control alien invasive species by way of special legislation. The "Lacey Act" of United States in 1900 was the first legislation by Congress which was against invasive species. After the "incident of zebra mussels" in 1990s, the U.S. Congress passed the "Nonindigenous Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and Control Act" .It provided measures of preventing and controlling alien aquatic species through ballast water in detail. The Congress passed the "National Invasive Species Act" in 1996. President Bill Clinton signed Executive Order 13112 in 1999, which established the National Invasive Species Council. New Zealand implemented in 1993 the world's first act of protecting ecosystems from alien species and diseases - "Biosecurity Act". It implemented the "The Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act" in 1996. These two acts are the most important legislation of New Zealand to maintain ecological safety, which has established a series of systems such as system of risk assessment, system of license, system of pest management, system of emergency and legal responsibilities.Due to the vast territory, various types of climate and geography, China not only becomes one of the megadiversity countries, but also becomes the country which is vulnerable to alien invasive species. Most alien species are likely to find a suitable niche in China. In recent years, alien invasive species have posed a serious threat to our ecological system, caused degradation and extinction of local species, led to the loss of biodiversity, jeopardized human health, and has created huge economic losses.In spite of this severe situation, there exists defects and delay in our relevant legislation. This situation makes it difficult to meet the demand of Chinese maintenance of ecological security, protection of biodiversity and the promotion of harmonious development of economic and social. First, there exists a deviation in the value of our current legislation. The current legislation of preventing and controlling alien invasive species are limited to the protection of economic interests and the safeguard of human health. They have not reflected the concerns of the ecological benefits, and they failed to take the principle of safeguard ecological security as the principle of environmental legislation. Second, our current legislative system is not integrity. There lacks a national, specialized, overall law of preventing and controlling alien invasive species. The existing laws and regulations about invasive alien species are in a mess. The lack of coordination leads to legislative gaps or reiteration, making the control of alien invasive species lacks a guide of unified legal system and basic principles. Third, China has not formed the unified system of control and management of alien invasion species, and also has not specially set up an independent institution responsible for the work of prevention and control. It refers to Environmental Protection, Quality Inspection, Health, Industry and Commerce, Trade, Customs, Agriculture, forestry and other departments when deal with the issues of invasion. The division of responsibilities between these departments is not very clear, and there exists a lack of effective coordination and communication. These lead to overlap or blind spots. More over, the various departments manage alien species for the sake of their own area, instead of concerns on the overall ecological environment. Finally, our present legislation has not established a series of systems, which are connected with the whole process of invasion, such as system of risk assessment before entry, system of tracking and monitoring after entry, system of emergency and system of legal responsibilities.Based on the analysis of legislation of some countries, the author indicates that, first of all, we should enact a specialized law to deal with the invasion of alien species, summarizing and improving the common elements of the work of prevention and control. The law should involve the following: interpretation of terms; legislative purpose; the basic principles of prevention and control; the systems throughout the process of prevention– control - redress. In fields of agriculture, forestry, fisheries, public health, supplementary (or additional) regulations should be formulated by single law or department rules to meet the special circumstances in these fields. In addition, it's necessary to add contents of alien species and the principle of prevention and control to the "Environmental Protection Law". We should Speed up the formation of a legal system in which the "Environmental Protection Law" is as a guide, the law of preventing and controlling alien invasive species is as the main method, and individual laws, regulations and rules are as supplement, comprehensively guiding the work of prevention and control. Second, we should establish a permanent coordinating institution and grant the institution a high legal status. Finally, on the basis of improvement of legislation, we should establish a series of systems, such as system of risk assessment, system of tracking and monitoring, system of early warning, system of emergency and system of legal responsibilities.