China

China’s broad territory covers several landscapes, including mountains, high plateaus, deserts; plains, deltas, and hills. The climate ranges from tropical to subarctic. It is the source of the Mekong and Indus Rivers and has a significant coastline along the Pacific Ocean. Most of the country is used for human activities, in its majority by rangeland. China has high biodiversity rarity of terrestrial land vertebrates at a global scale. When analysed as single taxons, the rarity of amphibians, birds, mammals and reptiles is also high. The rarity of marine fish and mammals is also high. Challenges to biodiversity include air pollution and acid rain; water shortages and pollution; coastal destruction; deforestation; soil erosion and desertification; and trade in endangered species.