Research On The Legislation For The Precaution And Control Of Alien Species Invasion In China

Alien invasive species is one that might have established populations in natural or semi-natural ecosystem and has caused obvious threat to the biological diversity. Alien species invasion is the second biggest threat factor to the biological diversity which is only after the habitat dislocation. Biological diversity is the material base of the human's existence and development. Alien species are taken from one habitat to the new ecosystem by intentional or unintentional human activity has made obvious effect and threat to the local ecosystem, such as reduction in the number of species, loss of biological diversity, threats to human and livestock health and cause great economic losses. Alien species invasion has evoked the extensive attention from the all countries and has become a global environmental problem.Though the invasion of alien species has already made a great harm to our country, the legal system of the precaution and control of alien species invasion in our country is still imperfect now. The article tries to thorough the analysis of alien species invasion and its legal system to find the insufficiency of the legal system of the precaution and control of alien species invasion in our country. And we should make reference to other countries'advanced legislative experience and propose a few suggestions in order to make an inspiration for the legislation of the precaution and control of alien species invasion in our country. The first part of this article is the summery of alien species invasion. First is the concept of alien invasive species. Then, the thesis has carried on the summary to alien species invasion's present situation, the main way to invasion, the harm of alien species invasion and the reason for alien species invasion. The aim of this part is to make people understand the harmfulness of alien species invasion more fully and strengthen people's consciousness of the precaution and control of alien species invasion.The second part of this article has explored the foreign legislation of the precaution and control of alien species invasion. In order to respond to the question that alien species invasion become more and more serious, the international community has established a large number of international legal documents and the main purpose of these international conventions aimed at strengthening international cooperation on combating alien species invasion. Despite there are many defects and shortcomings in the international legislation, but it still play an important role in the precaution and control of alien species invasion, and it also presents a new trend. The United States walks in the forefront of the world in the legislation of the precaution and control of alien species invasion. It is not only through a large number of legislations and set up a special regulatory body such as Invasive Species Committee. In addition, Australia, New Zealand and Japan and other countries also have many successful experiences in the legislation of the precaution and control of alien species invasion. The legislation of the precaution and control of alien species invasion in China started relatively late and the overall level is relatively backward, so China should strengthen international cooperation and draw on advanced foreign legislative experience in order to improve the precaution and control of alien species invasion of our country's legal system.The third part of the article is about the introduction and analysis of current legislation condition of the precaution and control of alien species invasion. The work carried out of the prevention and control of alien species invasion is mainly limited to scientific research and piloting implementation of the control process. Despite the ministries and commissions of the State Council accordingly issued a number of prevention and control regulations about invasive alien species and normative documents, but the state has not yet unified legislative control on the alien species invasion issues. The laws in China associated with alien species are mainly:Law of People's Republic of China on the Entry and Exit Animal and Plant Quarantine and its implementation, Animal Epidemic Prevention Law of the People's Republic of China, Regulations on Plant Quarantine, Seed Law of the Peoples Republic of China (2002,2004),Frontier Health and Quarantine Law of the People's Republic of China (1986,2007), Rules for the Implementation of Frontier Health and Quarantine Law of the people's Republic of China (1989), Fisheries Law of the People's Republic of China (Amendment 2004)etc. But these laws documents are not specific and incomplete, only about some aspect. For example, Law of People's Republic of China on the Entry and Exit Animal and Plant Quarantine and its implementation are only regulations about the import and export management and quarantine examination and approval system, Regulations on Plant Quarantine mainly stipulate the introduction of plant species, Fisheries Law of the People's Republic of China is mainly about the introduction of aquatic species. The legislation of precaution and control of alien species invasion still has many shortages, and it mainly manifested in the two aspects: in the first part, the guiding ideology and basic principles of the legislative has defects. The guiding ideology mainly reflects the requirement of speeding up to establish and develop the socialist market economy, and the lack of the protection of ecological environment and biological diversity. Secondly, the legal system is incomplete and the range of adjustment is narrow. China's existing laws and regulations are relatively decentralized and lack of unification. There are limitations about the legislative adjustment. Some laws and regulations lack of specification and flexibility. It is also lack of interdepartmental communication. The information-sharing system is poor, and the defects exist in the aspect of specific institution. The whole system is on the shortage of legal responsibility.The article makes several pieces of suggestions on the last part about legislation shortcomings of the precaution and control of alien species invasion. Firstly, specify the aim of legislation on precaution and control of alien species invasion. It should be guided by the Scientific Concept of Development on the basis of the whole ecosystem to establish the guide ideology and the aim of legislation about the precaution and control of alien species invasion. It also should make protecting biological diversity as a starting point. Secondly, establish the basic principles of the legislation for precaution and control of alien species invasion in China. At present, the principles of the precaution and control of alien species invasion mainly contain precautionary principle, grading and key controlling principle and polluter pays principle and so on. The precautionary principle is one important basic principle of international environmental laws, and it's the basis of the Convention on Biological Diversity and also included in the legal system of many countries. The grading and key controlling principle is that alien species will be divided into different levels and taken different precaution and control measures to different species according to the risk of invasion. Special protection must be given to the regions which have high economic and ecological value. Polluter pay principle refers to the units and individuals who introduce the alien species have the obligation to control or remove the invasive species for the damage caused by the alien species or bear the cost of controlling and removal of the alien species. In the legislative process of precaution and control of alien species invasion, the principles above must be strictly complied with to promote our country's legislative level. Thirdly, establish the legal system of the precaution and control of alien species invasion in China. The legal system of the precaution and control of alien species invasion is the legislation for the management system of alien species invasion which aims to prevent the biological invasion. And it mainly includes the alien species risk assessment system, the permission system, the zoology and botany examination and quarantine system, the monitoring and the early warning system, the responsibility investigated system and the public participation system.