BEIJING, July 8 (Xinhua) -- China has made progress in implementing the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation, an expert said Wednesday.

Under the framework of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation, China in 2008 issued the Strategy for Plant Conservation (2010-2020), which mapped out implementation plans for 16 targets of plant protection in the country.

The country has basically achieved around 75 percent of the major strategic goals set in the strategy, said Ren Hai, director of the South China Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a leading institute for plant and ecological research in China.

China has gradually established and improved a natural reserve system with national parks at the core, while achieving the goals in cataloging, assessing and sharing information on plant diversity, Ren said.

In the future, more should be done to boost the sustainable use of plant diversity, Ren said.

Plants play a key role in maintaining the planet's basic environmental balance and ecosystem stability. Many plant species are in danger of extinction, threatened by human-induced factors.

The Global Strategy for Plant Conservation seeks to halt the continuing loss of plant diversity and to secure a positive, sustainable future where human activities support the diversity of plant life and where in turn the diversity of plants support and improve human livelihoods and well-being. Enditem