Paradise regained as wetlands clean-ups bring birds back
The area of the Yellow River Wetland Park in Yinchuan, Ningxia Hui autonomous region, used to be a place that nearby residents assiduously avoided, and it was obvious why. The raw sewage from nearby drains there gave it a permanent stench, and the saline-alkali land was devoid of grass.
However, that has all changed, and the park has become a popular walking spot for locals and a shelter for migratory birds.
One of those most keenly aware of the park’s transformation is Li Zhijun, secretarygeneral of Ningxia’s bird observation association. With other wetlands in Ningxia along the Yellow River, the park has become a draw card for shutterbugs nationwide keen on photographing birds, Li said.
The number of habitats suitable for migratory birds has grown greatly as the area of wetlands expands as a result of the greatly improved environment, he said.
The wetland park in Yinchuan is a microcosm of the significant progress China has made in conserving wetlands in recent decades, thanks to the great importance the central authorities have attached to the task.
During an inspection tour in Zhejiang province in 2020, President Xi Jinping visited Xixi National Wetland Park in Hangzhou, the first national wetland park in the country, and underlined the importance of protecting wetland ecology and the aquatic environment.
He called for the park to be made a green space that people could enjoy, but stressed that tourism should not be at the expense of the natural environment.
Xi also visited a wetland of Dianchi Lake in Kunming, Yunnan province, in the same year to examine the protection and pollution treatment of the lake.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of China becoming a contracting party to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.
Wu Zhimin, director of the wetlands management department at the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, said: “Over the past 30 years, under the lead of the Chinese government, the natural environments in the country’s wetlands have improved thanks to stepped up efforts from different walks of life to promote wetland protection and remediation as part of endeavors to implement the philosophy of sustainable development and the ecological civilization.”
Ecological civilization is a concept promoted by Xi for balanced and sustainable development that features harmonious coexistence between humans and nature.
With only 4% of the wetlands around the globe, China has managed to meet the demands of one-fifth of the world’s population for wetlands’ roles in the operations of production, life and ecosystem, Wu said earlier this year.
The country has made significant contributions to wetlands conservation and their sustainable use.
In 2003 the State Council approved a 2002-30 national wetland protection plan. Since then the central government has allocated 19.8 billion yuan ($2.8 billion) for wetland conservation in three five-year plan periods, Wu said. More than 4,100 projects have been launched to protect and remediate wetlands.
China had also adopted comprehensive protection measures from 2016 to last year after analyzing the state of its wetlands and implementing remediation measures to restore damaged ones.
The transformation of the Yellow River Wetland Park in Yinchuan into a bird paradise was the result of a wetland purification project that the local government began in 2018.
In addition to measures to curb sewage and other pollutants from spoiling the Yellow River, the project also included efforts to preserve the ecosystem along China’s mother river by building wetlands and improving drainage network, said Cao Jing, an official with the Yinchuan ecology and environment bureau.
Despite the hefty financial outlay required, the country has put a great deal of effort into remediating wetlands.
To protect the wetlands in the estuary of the Yellow River in Dongying, Shandong province, for example, in recent years the local government and Sinopec Shengli Oilfield have demolished about 300 oil wells in and around the core area of the Yellow River Delta, the National Development and Reform Commission said. The value of the annual output of these wells exceeded more than 500 million yuan, it said.
Dongying has undertaken 16 wetland remediation projects in the Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve costing about 1.1 billion yuan, it said. More than 18.5 square miles of farmland and fish farms have returned to being wetlands and beaches.
The number of bird species in the reserve has risen from 187 when it was established 30 years ago to 371 now.
Huzhou in Zhejiang province, named after China’s third-largest freshwater lake Taihu, has treated more than 61.8 square miles of wetlands as it implements measures to return farmland to nature and restore aquatic plants, said Chen Hao, the city’s Party chief.
An ecological compensation mechanism has been introduced in Huzhou in a drive to protect and remediate wetlands in various areas, and more than 20 million yuan is being paid as compensation in the city each year, he said.
About 1,600 wetland parks and more than 600 wetland nature reserves have been established nationwide, and 64 wetlands have been designated as being of international importance, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration said.
“China has preliminarily established a system for wetland protection and management,” said Wu from the administration, adding that about 52.7% of wetlands nationwide now enjoy official protection.
Last year, the National People’s Congress, the top legislature, passed the Wetland Protection Law — the first dedicated to the issue. It came into effect on June 1, meaning wetland conservation efforts have entered a new era, Wu said.
The administration will introduce supporting laws, regulations, mechanisms and policies, and guide regions to draft or revise provincial-level regulations on wetland protection, he said, as it strives to have at least 55% of wetlands under protection and to restore more than 254.8 square miles of wetlands by 2025.
“We will endeavor to mobilize the energies of society to protect and remediate wetlands and promote highquality development of the country’s wetlands protection process.”