The latest high technology should be used in the conservation of biological diversity, scientists meeting in Beijing said Wednesday, the Ninth United Nations International Biodiversity Day.

The suggestion was made at the fifth International Conference on Science and Technology in Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Utilization.

Scientists from China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan and Brazil, as well as delegates from the United Nations and World Health Organization met here to discuss cooperative ways of tackling the problem.

Topics such as the economic prospects of Chinese medicines are also to be discussed at the three-day conference hosted by the China Biodiversity Conservation Fund.

Jiang Gaoming, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that the conservation of biodiversity is essential to realize the sustainable development of the Chinese herbal medicine.

As one of the important parts of the field of traditional medicine, Chinese medicines come from more than 10,000 natural officinal plants and animals as well as minerals, he said at the conference.

(People's Daily May 22, 2002)