by Mia Taylor
Last updated: 10:07 AM ET, Wed October 18, 2017
With its national penchant for products made from ivory and rhino horn, China has not exactly developed a reputation for being a worldwide conservation movement leader.
But He Qiaonv, a Chinese billionaire and landscape planner turned environmental steward, stands poised to change that reputation, at least partly.
Earlier this week Qianov-one of China's wealthiest women and most vocal conservationists-announced a $1.5 billion conservation plan that may very well be the largest-ever personal philanthropic donation for wildlife conservation, Bloomberg reported. The pledge is more than a third of her current $3.6 billion net worth.
The money will be used for a variety of projects that include helping preserve the Chinese snow leopard by creating and staffing two protected snow leopard reserves that will serve as pilot projects for future additional efforts. She also plans to build hundreds of urban classrooms that are intended to be used to teach hundreds of millions of people about conservation.
"[China is] pivoting to a new narrative in record speed," Tom Kaplan, founder and chairman of Panthera, the leading wild cat conservation organization, told Bloomberg. "Their [global] reputation has suffered by being viewed as the scourge of the elephant and tiger-and they want to reverse this."
Panthera will be He's first international partner, receiving $20 million from He's Beijing Qiaonv Foundation. That's an enormous sum for Panthera, whose annual operating budget is around $14 million.
The billion-dollar conservation plan and the Panthera donation are just the latest efforts by He to improve the environment throughout the sprawling Chinese empire.
After creating the Qiaonv Foundation in 2012 she focused on establishing key conservation areas within the country, identifying native species in need of protection and supporting domestic NGOs to create changes that impacted global biodiversity.
The foundation currently has about 79 projects underway in 26 provinces, ranging from Asian elephant conservation to wetland protection.
What's more, Qiaonv's commitment is just one example of what observers say is a growing environmental awareness throughout China.
For example, China's current President Xi Jinping is seen as a progressive leader who has emerged as a surprising environmental advocate in the wake of Donald Trump's decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord.
Among Xi's initiatives is a total ban of the illegal ivory trade by the end of 2017; a proposal to eliminate gasoline-powered vehicles-one of many such green transportation initiatives. Perhaps most importantly for the travel industry, he is creating the country's first tiger and Amur leopard preserve. It will be located near the China-Russia border and is one of 30 to 50 new conservation zones the government has promised by 2020.
"The public awareness of environmental protection is gradually increasing in China," He told Bloomberg, adding "We believe that protecting China is to protect the whole Earth."
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