A North China leopard Photo: VCG

Editor's Note:

With China as the country of presidency, the second phase of the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) is held in Montreal, Canada.

This series will show the various animals and plants in China that thrive as a result of the country's efforts in biodiversity conservation and building up sustainability.

Heshun county in North China's Shanxi Province has made a name for itself by becoming a national key forestry and eco-tourism county. But in recent years, this small county has also gained a reputation because of the frequent sightings of the endangered species known as the North China leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis).

Located along the eastern border of Shanxi where the Taihang Mountains and Taiyue Mountains meet, the 2,250-square-kilometer Heshun county is surrounded by mountains on all sides. It has a diverse vertical climate, high forest coverage and abundant herbivores, making it an ideal habitat for the North China leopard.

The North China leopard is a leopard subspecies that is endemic to China. It was listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 2012.

Over the years, Heshun county has attached great importance to the protection of the North China leopard, presenting a clear direction to China and even the world when it comes to the conservation of this rare species.

First, local authorities promoted conservation initiatives from a strategic perspective. They established a wildlife protection leadership group, designated the western mountainous area, which accounts for about half of the county, as a Western Ecological Function Protection Zone. After various efforts, the local government altered the route of a planned highway link that would have passed through the heart of the North China leopard habitat, and rejected an application to extend an industrial project into the habitat.

As the leopard will occasionally enter villages and kill livestock, the local related department also set up a compensation mechanism, and over the years has continued to allocate funds to include "leopard eating cattle" ecological compensation costs in the county's annual financial budget.

Second, Heshun county has established an ecological protection model through which the government, scientific research institutions and public welfare organizations can cooperate with each other. An academic workstation for North China leopard habitat protection was introduced to plan and execute the first county-wide leopard population survey in China.

Meanwhile, wildlife protection volunteers in the county were encouraged to spontaneously set up patrol teams, with the help of 300 infrared cameras to supervise the fight against poaching.

The graceful and powerful big cats that roam the mountains and forests of northern China are the top predators in the ecosystem, their vibrant presence marks the integrity and stability of the ecosystem and a high level of biodiversity.

In recent years, a small population of 89 North China leopards have been cumulatively identified in Heshun county. They are the only known healthy breeding and growing population of North China leopards in China, and makes the county a key corridor for the breeding and expansion of North China leopards in China.