Foreign plant species are wreaking havoc in South China city Guangzhou and could put local flora under serious threat if immediate steps are not taken to stop their invasion, experts have warned.

Members of the municipal political consultative conference and deputies to the municipal people's congress in Guangzhou have asked the local government to pump in more funds to tackle the menace.

A researcher with the South China Institute of Botany and leader of Guangdong's biological resources investigation team, Peng Shaolin, told the ongoing political consultative conference that he had found at least five harmful alien plants in the Baiyun Mountain alone.

The place is a favorite destination both for local and outstation tourists.

Peng said the city had about 24 key alien species, and they were damaging agriculture and destroying local flora.

"Our investigation shows that the invasion of harmful alien species is on the rise in Guangzhou," Peng said.

"If the government doesn't take immediate steps to check the spread, the consequences could be disastrous," he warned. "Alien plants could overshadow native flora at an explosive rate, and it wouldn't be long before they became a threat to the mountain ecology."

More areas affected

Similar threats loom over other mountains in Guangzhou's suburban district of Baiyuan and subordinate cities of Conghua and Zengcheng.

For example, he said merremia boisiana, a woody twiner, once killed more than 10,000 trees over 300 hectares of mountain terrain in the suburbs. And at least 13 varieties of orchids are on the verge of extinction because of alien species.

The city's early warning and inspection system, set up in 2005, has not been as effective as it was meant to be because it lacks enough monitoring facilities, Peng said. So the government should strengthen its network to monitor alien species and update the early warning system.

More funds needed

Also, Peng asked the local authorities to allot more funds to monitor and prevent the alien plant invasion because the existing budget of 150,000 yuan ($19,200) was far from enough.

A deputy to the municipal people's congress, Li Yongli, backed Peng's proposals, saying: "I've submitted a resolution to the ongoing conference, calling for a local regulation against alien species' invasion."

"Without a proper regulation, it would be difficult for government departments to fight the invasion jointly," he said, and asked local authorities to make the damage caused by alien species known to the public.

(China Daily January 26, 2007)