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| Science: Draft Rule Threatens Fossil Excavations in China |
| 2009-09-10 |
Li Chun was in high spirits: After 3 months of digging in southwestern China`s Guizhou Province, he had unearthed a dozen superb fossil specimens. It was 31 December 2001 and Li, a researcher with the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences here, was returning to his hotel in Xingyi to ring in the New Year. But when Li arrived, police were waiting. They accused the 35-year-old paleontologist of illegal fossil collection and detained him.
Based on Li`s notes, which referred to his collaboration with The Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois, investigators accused him of involvement in an international smuggling ring. The police said that Xingyi authorities did not allow valuable specimens out of their control, and they scoffed at Li`s claim that IVPP had a permit to collect in Guizhou. IVPP colleagues worked their guanxi, or connections, and Li was liberated 10 days later; he was never charged with a crime. The confiscated fossils have since vanished.
Fossil theft and smuggling are rampant in China, and scientists welcome tougher enforcement. But a draft regulation released this summer, intended to crack down on illicit trade, would impede fieldwork and make paleontologists more vulnerable to the whims of local officials, scientists fear, potentially leading to repeats of Li`s harrowing experience. "The draft regulation has aroused considerable panic among research professionals," 12 senior scientists warned in a recent letter to China`s State Council. They hope to persuade the council to amend the regulation before it is finalized by the end of this year.
A large share of paleontology`s most scintillating recent finds, including remains of feathered dinosaurs and primitive mammals and angiosperms, have come from China. As a result, paleontology is arguably the country`s strongest scientific discipline: Since 1999, 65 of 256 papers in Science and Nature with first authors from mainland China were on paleontology.
But as the discipline has flourished, so has criminal activity. "We are still faced with serious problems in ... fossil destruction, loss, illegal trade, and smuggling," says Xu Shaoshi, minister of land and resources. The draft regulation declares that the state owns all fossils underground or underwater on Chinese territory and bans commercial fossil transactions; violators could face penalties of up to $73,000 and criminal charges. Individuals and institutions will be allowed to keep fossil collections obtained legally to date. The regulation encourages them to donate their fossils to museums or other public organizations. But no cutoff date is set for such donations-and scientists say that illegal collectors could exploit this loophole to continue their activities.
The biggest controversy is raging over fossil management. The regulation designates the Ministry of Land and Resources as the lead agency on fossil collection and trade and tasks county-level mineral resource bureaus with responsibility for local management. Lumping together fossil excavation and mineral extraction could spur local governments to develop fossil beds into profitmaking ventures. The "core value" of fossils-to promote research and public awareness-is "obviously different from exploitation of mineral resources," says IVPP Director Zhou Zhonghe.
A revised permit system could create new barriers to scientific excavations, says Yin Hongfu, former president of China University of Geosciences in Wuhan. Under the new regulation, the central government`s permission would no longer suffice: Researchers would need permits from both the land resources ministry and county-level mineral bureaus. Institutes and universities have petitioned the State Council to grant them blanket permission to discover, collect, and study fossils. Paleontologists have suggested that the central government set up an interagency expert board to oversee major aspects of fossil discovery and site management. Scientists are also calling for an explicit right to lend, borrow, and swap fossils with overseas partners, under board supervision.
The regulation`s fate now rests with the State Council`s Legislative Affairs Office. The final regulation, sources say, is expected to designate an expert board to certify qualifications of excavators and approve digs. The council is considering other amendments as well, including a provision to allow researchers to conduct small-scale digs without a permit.
Such leniency would be a boon for Li and other fieldworkers. Undaunted by his travails, Li has returned to Guizhou several times and uncovered more prize specimens, including a missing link in turtle evolution that he and colleagues published in Nature last year. "I don`t object to efforts to overhaul fossil protection," says Li, brushing dirt off a fossilized aquatic reptile in his Beijing lab. "But any regulation should embody respect for research freedom." (ScienceMag) |
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