生态系统和生物多样性的信息本底状况缺乏或者不公开，一直是生态保护的根本问题，由此导致科学决策、成效评估和公开监督没有基础。在环境领域也掀起信息化和大数据的高潮之时，《中国自然观察2014》应运而生。这是一份针对中国生态系统和生物多样性保护状况的研究报告，由山水自然保护中心、中国观鸟组织联合行动平台和北京大学自然保护与社会发展研究中心联合发布。这份报告依据的是上述机构多年积累和公开发布的数据，尝试从独立视角给公众和决策者解读与勾绘最近十多年来中国自然生态的变化图景。本文将就这篇报告的主要结论和其背后的含义进行解读。依照原报告的结构，就我国森林的信息公开状况，比较其变化的整体情况和空间分布主要内容；分析我国最受关注的濒危物种的研究状况和分布格局；对自然保护区作为一个重要保护手段从空间分布上的保护成效予以评估。此报告的主要结论包括：我国重点保护物种名录未能及时覆盖我国的濒危物种，亟须更新；民间的自然观察填补了物种的分布和数量统计的大量空白，是物种和生态系统基本信息收集和保护成效监督监测的可靠力量；在保护区难以覆盖的地区，特别是东部人口密集地区，应尽量建立新的保护区或者建立以当地居民和公众参与为主体的保护小区；生态信息公开和长期的生态系统及物种研究与监测都迫在眉睫。
The lack or non-disclosure of information background of ecosystem and biodiversity has been the fundamental problem of ecological conservation，which leads to a lack of basis for scientific decision-making，effective evaluation and public oversight. “China Nature Watch 2014”，thus，was a brainchild at the spring tide of informationization and big data. It is a research report on the conservation status of China’s ecosystem and biodiversity，jointly published by the Shan Shui Conservation Center，the China Bird Watching Societies Network，and Center for Nature and Society at the Peking University. This report is based on the accumulated and publicly released data by the above organizations in the past years，which is used to interpret and describe changes of China’s nature in recent decades，as an independent reference for the public and policy makers. This article draws on the main conclusions from the above-mentioned report，and provides interpretations. It compares the overall situations of the variations and the main content of spatial distribution，research status and distribution patterns of China’s forest and most popular endangered species，and the evaluation of protection effects from spatial distribution by nature reserves as an important conservation measure，in accordance with the structure of the original report. Main conclusions from the report include：1，the list of China’s key protected species is inadequate to cover China’s endangered species，and urgently needs to be updated；2，citizen-based nature observations greatly contributed to information gaps in species distribution and population status. These non-governmental and non-academic nature watchers are sources of species and ecosystem information collection，and for monitoring of conservation effectiveness；3，new nature reserves or local community based smaller scale protected areas are the way to go for areas lack of protection，particularly in eastern China，where population density is high；finally，the report concludes that disclosure of ecological information and establishment of long-term research and monitoring on ecosystem and species are both urgent and should be given priority.
