On May 22, the List of New Species and Newly Recorded Species in Yunnan (1992-2020) (hereinafter referred to as the List) made its first debut at the Press Conference for 2021 "International Day for Biological Diversity" held at the Press Office of Yunnan Provincial People's Government. As shown in the List, from 1992 to 2020, 3,718 new species were accumulatively founded within Yunnan Province, including 2,519 new species and 1,199 newly recorded species.

According to Pu Lifeng, the party member, deputy director general, and press spokesmen of Department of Ecology and Environment of Yunnan Province, Yunnan is the province with the richest biological diversity in China, and also the original and differentiation center of many species, known as the "Kingdom of Animals", the "Kingdom of Plants", the "World Garden" and the "Species Gene Pool" as well As the Important Treasury of Biological Diversity in China and the Barrier for Ecological Safety in Southwest China. Due to the special geological position, diversified landform and three-dimensional climatic environment, it has incubated extremely rich biological diversity and made Yunnan a highly concentrated place to discover new species. To usher in the COP15 Conference to be held at Kunming in October this year, Department of Ecology and Environment of Yunnan Province has recently cooperated with Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences in collecting new species and newly recorded species discovered in Yunnan since China entered the Convention on Biological Diversity in 1992, and formed the list under the support of many institutions, including Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Zoology and Southwest Forestry University.

The List has collected new species and newly recorded species of 11 wild biological groups, including large fungi, lichen, moss, fern, gymnosperm, angiosperm, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals by collecting mode specimens and citation specimens (excluding foreign species and naturalized species) of wild biological groups within the territory of Yunnan. The List includes 570 species of large fungi, 802 species of lichen, 56 species of moss, 183 species of fern, 15 species of gymnosperm, 1,703 species of angiosperm, 215 species of fish, 52 species of amphibians, 31 species of reptiles, 60 species of birds, and 31 species of mammals.

As can be seen from the distribution areas, the concentrated distribution areas include Derung-Nu Autonomous County Gongshan, Nujiang of the Lisu Autonomous Prefecture, and Mengla County, Dai Autonomous Prefecture of Xishuangbanna. The investigation of biological diversity was relatively weak in the Central Yunnan Province, for instance, the new category of Tsaiodendron dioicum was discovered and then named and published in 2017; As can be seen from the time of discovery, new species and newly recorded species were mostly discovered in the mid of 1990s and the recent 10 years, in which over 200 new species were discovered in 2016 and 2020 respectively.

According to the information, the achievements made in the List have reflected the contributions made by China, especially Yunnan in studying the protection of biological diversity, and also highlighted its unique position of biological diversity as the "Kingdom of Animals", the "Kingdom of Plants", the "World Garden" and the Original and Differentiation Center of World Species; It has laid a foundation for further strengthening species protection, and guiding the reasonable development and utilization of biological resources, and also provided data support for updating the List and red list of biological species in Yunnan timely; Meanwhile, it has also enriched the public cognition on biological diversity, and exerted a positive role in publicizing and protecting biological diversity.

According to Pu Lifeng, next, Yunnan Province will persist in doing practical work, and further improving the policies and regulations on the protection of biological diversity, executing the major project of protecting the biological diversity, strengthening the sustainable utilization of biological diversity, improving the supervision capacity in biological protection, promoting all citizens to participate in protecting biological diversity, and strengthening the implementation of key work covering 6 aspects, including foreign exchange and cooperation. In addition, it will also make constant endeavors to protect the national treasury of biological diversity, to make more "new discoveries" originate from Yunnan, and make Yunnan, the most beautiful city of biological diversity become the "poetic and fascinating place" for all people across the globe.