On June 4, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) organized a “Symposium on Sustainable Development and Comprehensive Management in Lancang River Basin” in Kunming, which brought together officials and scholars from WWF, Ministry of Environmental Protection, Changjiang Water Resources Commission, Yunnan Provincial Government, and Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG), etc.

      At the invitation of WWF, Prof. Zhu Hua of XTBG delivered a lecture entitled “Tropical rainforest biodiversity conservation and rubber plantation in Xishuangbanna”. In the lecture, he talked about the expansion of rubber plantation in Xishaungbanna and its potential “devastating” impact on environment. By replacing tropical rainforest, rubber plantations result in biodiversity loss. He also talked about the key issues in biodiversity conservation in Xishuangbanna.

       Dr. Zhu Hua’s lecture was highly appraised by the participants at the Symposium.