Tag: Environment

PRC’s Path to Higher-Quality Green Development

ADB has been a partner with the PRC in supporting higher quality and greener development.

As we approach the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan (FYP) (2016-2020) of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the country can take satisfaction in many notable achievements over the past five years.

The FYP placed significant emphasis on the environment, and set out to reduce total emissions of major pollutants and reverse biodiversity loss and degradation. We saw the concept of Ecological Civilization become enshrined in the PRC’s constitution in 2018, which prioritizes an innovative, coordinated, green, open, and shared approach to development. Ecological Civilization brought forward a new focus on the importance of natural resource management and the need to address pollution challenges around air, water, soil and plastics, and contribute to global climate and sustainability governance.

We are seeing the concept of Ecological Civilization being translated into practice in rural areas, where agriculture, farmers and rural communities have become the core focus of multi-sectoral development efforts. More sustainable use of natural resources is accompanied by a reduction in rural poverty and inequality, and greater food security. Ecological Civilization is promoting more sustainable production and consumption, along with actions to address climate change and protect natural ecosystems. As a result, economic, social and environmental welfare in the PRC’s rural areas is improving.

The forthcoming 14th FYP (2021-2025) needs to carry this positive momentum forward, as well as the concept of Ecological Civilization. The post COVID-19 economic recovery provides the opportunity to make an even stronger commitment to environmental protection and address climate change through high-quality, green and nature-positive development approaches.

Consistent with the focus on greener, more sustainable growth, the 14th FYP is expected to emphasize climate change and outline various initiatives for the PRC to meet its nationally determined contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement. The recent announcement that the PRC will become carbon neutral by 2060 is a strong step in the right direction. Under the 14th FYP, new policies and measures are expected to scale up renewable energy and low-carbon, livable cities.

The theme for 2021 Global Biodiversity 15th Conference of Parties (COP 15) is also rooted in the vision of Ecological Civilization and draws inspiration from traditional and new eco-innovations. This event will adopt a ten-year global biodiversity framework (2021-2030). COP 15 offers a great opportunity for China to ensure that ecological conservation redlining, a one-health approach (human-animal-environment), and sustainable financing mechanisms for natural capital mechanism be incorporated in the 14th Five Year Plan.

The PRC is also looking to  strengthen subregional development programs such as the Yangtze River Economic Belt and Yellow River Ecological Corridor by focusing on biodiversity conservation, and using eco-compensation schemes to value ecological resources and services, and ensure this value is preserved. In the spirit of Ecological Compensation, these large-scale rural vitalization programs focus on improving livelihood opportunities for the people and communities in rural areas. This also includes support in the agriculture and tourism sectors, improving access to finance for farmers, households and small businesses as well as  efforts to ensure the provision of basis services such as health and education.

The 14th FYP represents both an opportunity and a critical roadmap to achieve high-quality development while advancing renewed forms of international cooperation. Integrating ecological protection and nature-positive approaches will require concerted efforts and the design of a comprehensive set of transformative policies. Three actions will be paramount to achieve these ambitious goals.

First, climate adaptation and mitigation measures must be integral to natural resource management to enhance their impact on the ground. Strengthening linkages among sustainable agriculture and food systems, integrated natural resources and disaster risk management will be critical to enable decision making for climate-resilient investments.

Second, improve natural capital accounting and market-based mechanisms to catalyze green finance in the Yangtze and the Yellow river basins. This will only be possible if coherent policies offer scope for better allocation of funding in areas with high ecological and high conservation value and are aligned with national land-use planning.

Third, incorporate biodiversity conservation into the PRC policy framework of green finance. A crucial step in this direction will be to nurture innovative financial mechanisms for rural vitalization and ecological protection. Other actions needed include accelerating piloting and deployment of new technologies, partnering with innovative companies to improve agriculture value chains by leveraging small entrepreneurs, and enhancing financial disclosure mechanisms to mitigate biodiversity risks.

The ADB has been a partner with the PRC in supporting higher quality and greener development during the 13th FYP, and this focus will remain the cornerstone of our partnership in working together toward a more sustainable future for the PRC, and the Asia and Pacific region.

Author
James Patrick Lynch

James Patrick Lynch

Director General, East Asia Department, ADB

This Op-Ed is reproduced from Asian Development Bank.

At an Ecological Crossroad

Jin Ding/China Daily

The PRC’s progress on biodiversity conservation offers meaningful takeaways for other countries.

It is now 10 years since the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity established 20 targets for biodiversity conservation. The bad news is that none of these targets has been fully achieved at the global level.

Among the Aichi Biodiversity Targets (2011-20), six have been partially achieved, while five, including loss and fragmentation of natural habitats, pollution detrimental to ecosystems, human pressures on coral reefs, extinction of threatened species, and decline of ecosystem services have shown no significant progress or are veering wider off the mark.

This is the inconvenient truth that the international community is facing ahead of the 15th conference of Parties to the CBD, which is scheduled to take place in Kunming, Yunnan province, later this year. During this gathering, the post-2020 global biodiversity framework will be discussed and hopefully agreed on.

While the parties to the CBD will pursue an ambitious new framework, implementation of a series of outcome-oriented actions at the national level remains critical. In this respect, the PRC’s experiences over the past decade can offer some meaningful reference for the parties.

The PRC, as one of the 198 parties to the CBD, has performed relatively well, with 16 of the 20 targets advancing will track, including three that have been exceeded (protection of ecosystems that provide essential services, enhanced ecosystem resilience, adoption of national biodiversity strategy and action plan). Four targets though are yet to be achieved, including sustainable management of marine living resources, prevention and control of invasive alien species, the reduction of pressure on vulnerable ecosystems such as coral reef degradation due to ocean acidification, and prevention of extinctions. A large number of rare and endangered species still face the risk of extinction in the PRC. These include reptiles, amphibians, fish and birds.

So what takeaways can the PRC’s experiences offer the CBD as it moves forward on the post-2020 agenda?

First, the government’s strong ownership and leadership have ensured a highly efficient top-down approach to set the priorities for biodiversity conservation and design policies to accomplish them. Effective ecological protection policies have resulted in a steady increase of protected areas from 1.48 million square kilometers in 2008 to 1.73 million sq km by 2018.That is 18 percent of its terrestrial (including inland water) areas compared with the Aichi target of 17 percent. These protected areas provide important natural habitats for many species and have significant biodiversity richness. Importantly, national nature reserves are generally under effective management (accounting for 9.7 percent of terrestrial coverage, compared with the Aichi target of 5 percent achieved in 2020).

Second, the PRC has integrated ecological management into the country’s legal and policy regime, as well as key development programs, to provide a platform for biodiversity conservation. The concept of Ecological Civilization has been written into the PRC’s Constitution as the ideological framework for the country’s environmental policies, laws and education. The national and provincial social and economic development five-year plans also include ecological conservation as a key element.

Third, the PRC has emphasized the benefits of biodiversity conservation to local communities. Conservation programs provide local people with alternative livelihoods such as small businesses involving ecological products or ecotourism and access to e-commerce, and/or employment opportunities such as rangers. Reliable and sustainable incomes give incentives to local people to be engaged actively in conservation.

Fourth, biodiversity and its associated ecosystems should be valued properly considering their significant benefits and services to human beings.

Biodiversity and ecosystems have great value and can be treated as natural capital. But how to convert these natural assets into capital that can generate revenues eventually and further be invested back into conservation requires consensus based on a set of scientific accounting standards. COP 15 will provide a platform for the international community to discuss this issue.

Moving forward, there is a need to establish straightforward measurements to track conservation progress. This is a major deficiency in the Aichi Targets and makes it difficult at the national level to achieve consistency and comparison between the parties in the measurement of target indicators. As measuring performance on biodiversity requires multiple indicators such as coverage of natural habitats and the number of threatened species, the biodiversity loss or degradation is not captured in a simple indicator. In contrast, climate change is measured at the highest level using a simple unit of global temperature rise and the reporting of greenhouse gas emissions has been standardized in terms of CO2-equivalent emissions using Global Warming Potentials over 100 years.

With simpler measurements, it would also be easier to assess whether the aggregated national contributions are sufficient to achieve international targets on biodiversity. Such a framework could also be useful in the context of the CBD.

Looking ahead to COP 15, the parties should set ambitious targets that are easily measurable and backed by concrete actions and sufficient resources. Only then can the world start making up for lost ground after dragging its feet for the last 10 years on biodiversity conservation.

Author
Zhiming Niu

Zhiming Niu

Senior Project Officer (Environment), East Asia Department, Asian Development Bank

This Op-Ed is reproduced from China Daily.

Fuzhou Environmental Improvement Project in the People’s Republic of China

Restoring a River the Natural Way

Pu’er City used natural materials and processes to rehabilitate the Simao River. Photo Credit: CDIA/Rudini Baoy.

In the People’s Republic of China, rehabilitation of the Simao River took an ecological and green development path and was integrated into city plans.

Overview

The Simao River in Pu’er City, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was rehabilitated to prevent flooding in the city, restore the area’s biodiversity, and improve livability for residents.

In 2012, the city government worked with the Cities Development Initiative for Asia (CDIA) to finalize the design of its rehabilitation project, which aimed to develop Simao River into an attractive landmark and improve its flood protection capacity. Soon after, KfW (German Development Bank) approved an $80-million loan to implement the key components of the project.

In 2018, CDIA development experts returned to Pu’er and saw that the measures implemented by the city, which largely adopted a nature-based approach, resulted in better flood control and more sustainable river management, improved water quality, and restored ecology of the river. Residents were also using green spaces near the river for recreation and social interaction.

Project information

PRC: Flood Control, Environmental Improvement and Water Reclamation Works in Pu’er

Project snapshot

      • Start date: January 2012
      • End date: June 2012
      • Total project cost: $410,000
      • Financing: 
        • KfW: $80-million loan for key components of project
        • CDIA: $410,000 in technical assistance
        • Municipal Government of Pu’er
      • Commissioning agency: Municipal Government of Pu’er

Context

Pu’er City is situated in the southwest of Yunnan Province. It covers a floodplain of about 45,000 square kilometers, framed by green hills and mountains where the famous Pu’er tea is grown. The city’s estimated population is 200,000.

Pu’er developed into a modern urban center in recent years, but increased urbanization brought pressing challenges. It experienced frequent floods that severely affected urban activities and the future development of the city. The foul odor of garbage and sludge from the Simao River further attested to environmental deterioration.

Challenges

The Simao River traverses the urban area of Pu’er. The 15-km long watercourse acts as a natural drainage channel for the city and serves as a home for wildlife and vegetation along its shores. In previous years, however, the river lost its capacity to provide these environmental benefits.

In 2012, the river had a very low flood risk management capacity that it could only cope with a 5-year flood event or less. Due to the characteristics of the river’s course and riverbeds, it could not effectively drain flood waters, thus putting the city at risk of flooding.

The Simao River was also polluted. Solid waste, sludge, and aquatic plants impeded its normal water flow, and informal settlers occupied some of its riverbanks. Pu’er’s inadequate wastewater management system compounded the problem, as only 22% of the urban wastewater was collected and treated. The rest was discharged directly into the Simao River and its tributaries.

With the river’s poor water quality and surrounding environment, biodiversity could hardly thrive. This was a stark contrast to the rich flora that Yunnan Province is known for.

Pu’er’s residents perceived the Simao River as a heavy burden; they did not see it as an integrated part of their city and did not regard it as an emblematic feature of Pu’er’s natural beauty.

Solutions

The Pu’er Municipal Government prepared a feasibility study of the Simao River rehabilitation project to develop the watercourse into an attractive landmark and to prepare the city to cope with severe flood events.

Comprehensive project preparation

The city government asked CDIA to review the feasibility study and finalize the preliminary design for the Flood Control, Environmental Improvement, and Water Reclamation Works in Pu’er project.

CDIA and the Pu’er government worked closely for 6 months in 2012 to prepare the project, involving all relevant stakeholders at each critical step of the planning process. They collected information and conducted surveys, analyses, and calculations to provide a strong foundation for the design of the Simao River rehabilitation project.

By the end of CDIA’s intervention, the city was set to pursue the following measures:

  1. Improve the water quality through a series of treatment wetlands at the confluences of Simao River tributaries and storm water channels;
  2. Provide a river layout that can withstand 50-year flood events;
  3. Allow the river water to flow through a combination of free-flowing stream and still water sections;
  4. Provide an open main flood channel with vegetation situated alongside riverbanks; and
  5. Divide project construction into three sections and three contract packages for the entire length of the river.

In December 2012, KfW signed an $80-million loan agreement with the PRC government to implement flood control and channel improvement works for the Simao River.

Use of ecological and green development approach

The city mostly used nature-based solutions recommended by CDIA to achieve a more sustainable river rehabilitation and create a healthy and livable environment for residents. It espoused the use of ecologically sound and diverse measures, natural processes and materials, and it based restoration efforts on the idea of the features being part of the natural environment and not exclusively built structures. It also planned to entirely use native plant materials for revegetation and for reinforcing flood beds and riverbanks.

The adoption of an ecological and green development approach ensures cost effectiveness in terms of construction and maintenance, and it can also recreate a natural river environment that protects against floods and provides natural habitats for biodiversity.

Integration of the project with city development plans

The city government integrated the planned interventions with their master plan and linked the river works with other relevant urban infrastructure projects, such as wastewater management, wetland park development, and urban renewal. This approach enabled the city to pursue a project design adapted to its existing and future development needs.

Results

CDIA visited the city 6 years after it completed its technical assistance and found that the city completed 85% of the project work, including flood control, sewage interception, and river ecology restoration measures recommended in the CDIA study.

Pu’er officials noted that the risk attributed to flooding has been minimized in flood-prone areas after completion of dredging and excavation works along the river. They also expect that the river will be able to withstand a 50-year flood event when the project is completed.

The river’s water quality improved after the city reformed its wastewater management program, and the foul smell coming from the river was eliminated.  There was also a noticeable increase in fish population in the still water sections of the river.

The landscape surrounding the river was rehabilitated, with 50 hectares of greening and restoration efforts along its banks giving residents new spaces for recreation.

The city used natural and indigenous materials and processes during the project and that resulted in low construction and maintenance costs. Pu’er officials are optimistic that an ecological and green development approach will improve biodiversity and promote the sustainable development of the river.

Informal settlers along the river that were exposed to flooding were transferred to relocation sites with better amenities and quality of housing units.  

Finally, the roads and bridges constructed and retrofitted near the river are expected to improve mobility and access to social services for residents.

The project is transforming Simao River into an ecological landmark while reducing flood risks and improving water quality. Photo Credit: CDIA/Rudini Baoy.

Lessons

Aided by the interventions and the commitment of relevant stakeholders, Pu’er is set to achieve its primary objective of developing the Simao River watercourse into an attractive ecological landmark while eliminating flood risks and improving the water quality of the river.

The integration of the project into the Pu’er City Master Plan paved the way for the coordinated implementation of relevant urban infrastructure projects. Meanwhile, the active participation of city officials and the affected communities in project planning and implementation strengthened their ownership of the project.

The city government linked the various project components with internal and external funding sources necessary to implement the project. It further established a governance structure, headed by the city mayor, to manage and maintain the river and its tributaries after project completion.

Key officials of the Pu’er Municipal Government are optimistic that Pu’er will serve as a model for other cities in the PRC on how to approach the problem of flood management the natural way and how to integrate flood management measures in a more sustainable manner.

References

Cities Development Initiative for Asia. 2012. Final Report: Flood Control, Environmental Improvement & Water Reclamation Works in Pu’er.

R. Baoy, E. Ringhof, and C. Yiyang. 2018. Pu’er Tracer Study. Tracer Studies on City Interventions. Cities Development Initiative for Asia.

Author
Brian Capati

Brian Capati

Urban Development Specialist, Cities Development Initiative for Asia

This blog is reproduced from Development Asia.

In the People’s Republic of China, Helping Women Will Help the Environment

Skies in the People’s Republic of China have been clearer than usual during the pandemic. Photo: Zhang Kaiyv.

Gender equality needs to be at the forefront to make environmental policies more effective and to speed the full recovery from COVID-19.

Lockdown measures to reduce transmission of COVID-19 in 2020 have exposed the extent of human impact on nature. As people were required to stay inside and work from home and air travel and industrial output dropped significantly, we saw pollution decline and nature bounce back.

In the People’s Republic of China, the decrease in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions during the first quarter of 2020 has been estimated at 11% compared with the same period in 2019. Mobility and economic activity were drastically reduced during this time.

The return of a blue sky in big cities revealed the seriousness of pollution. It also signaled the need for urgent human action to veer toward sustainable consumption and production given that this year’s decrease in global CO2 emissions (estimated at 7%) will hardly affect overall atmospheric concentrations.

This will require environmentally sustainable policies as well as changes in individual behavior, which is challenging, as demonstrated by the need for recent policies on fireworks prohibition, waste segregation, and wildlife protection. As a Chinese saying goes, “it’s easy to change mountains and rivers, but it’s difficult to change people’s habits.”

This led us to dig deeper into the environmental awareness, attitudes, and behaviors of different social groups and explore the links between sustainable consumption and gender in the People’s Republic of China. We conducted a survey based using the Chinese Family Panel Study and the Chinese General Social Survey. We found that women exhibit higher pro-environmental preferences and behaviors than men in numerous cases, but not always.

Overall, data indicate that women exhibit greener living and working habits than men. Women tend to smoke less, eat less meat and prefer cleaner cooking fuels, such as gas and electricity, instead of coal and firewood. Women tend to put more effort and time toward environmental protection through garbage sorting, recycling, and using reusable shopping bags rather than disposable ones.

Regardless of income and age, women’s transportation choices are more likely to be carbon free. This includes walking, cycling, and public transportation. Women and men hold equally strong awareness about the need for harmony between humanity and nature.

Data also showed improving trends across time and age groups, but young generations appear to have higher environmental awareness and pro-environmental preferences than older generations.

Although science is increasing the odds of overcoming COVID-19, it is more urgent than ever to accelerate action towards sustainable living.

Although we find women are more willing to invest time and physical effort on green actions, we also identified three conflicts that policymakers should note to unleash women’s positive contributions to environmental solutions.

The first conflict is that women are constrained in both finances and time to take more responsibility despite their high social preference towards environmental protection. The gender wage gap is as large as 39% in the People’s Republic of China and larger for the older generation, which partly explains why women are less willing to take on financial burdens related to the environment. We also found that women on average take on more unpaid housework and care work than their male counterparts (1.3 hours more on weekends and 1.1 hours more on weekdays). The gap is even larger for rural women.

Second, women exhibit lower awareness on climate change and industrial pollution than men; despite stronger eco-friendly behaviors in daily life.

Finally, women lack enough political representation to drive the policy discussion. The People’s Republic of China ranked 95 out of 153 countries in terms of women’s political empowerment in the Global Gender Gap Report 2020.

To unleash women’s potential, a level playing field is a prerequisite, and the following actions can help.

1. Close the remaining gender gaps that limit women’s capacity to shape policy. This includes enhancing the social care system to reduce the time poverty of women, promote equal education opportunities, especially for rural women, set up wage transparency mechanisms to promote equal payment, and address gender stereotypes in leadership, politics, and participation in decision-making on green development.

2. Include a gender perspective in the design of sustainable consumption and production policies. We recommend integrating gender analysis into the existing policy agenda of sustainable consumption and production; specifically, policy makers need to ask whether gender differences in information access and decision-making about resources will contribute to the varying impact on men and women.

3. Continue investing in environmental education and awareness of the impact of consumption choices. Action is based on awareness, but we have identified a general “threshold of indifference.” This means that despite efforts at education and improvements over time, still a significant share of the population, regardless of gender or age, continues to have low awareness about environmental processes. Promoting more informed decision making of consumers is needed, including making the origin of products more transparent, developing labeling and certification systems, and adopting product traceability technology.

Although science is increasing the odds of overcoming COVID-19, it is more urgent than ever to accelerate action towards sustainable living. Gender equality needs to be at the forefront to make environmental policies more effective. As Chairman Mao Tse Tung famously stated, “women hold up half the sky”. With women’s enhanced participation and the effort of both men and women, we will eventually hold up the whole sky, making the world better, greener and safer.

Authors
Veronica Mendizabal Joffre

Veronica Mendizabal Joffre

Social Development Specialist, East Asia Department, ADB

Fan Li

Fan Li

Economist

This blog is reproduced from Asian Development Blog.

Building the Climate Change Resilience of Mongolia’s Blue Pearl: The Case Study of Khuvsgul Lake National Park

Healthy and Age-Friendly Cities in the People’s Republic of China

Applying Ancient Wisdom to Disaster Risk Mitigation

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Built in 256 BC, the Dujiangyan system harnesses the power of nature to irrigate farmlands and prevent floods in the People’s Republic of China.

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Introduction

A water resource management system built more than 2,000 years ago is still used for flood control and irrigation in Sichuan province in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). It is a feat of nature-based engineering that uses indigenous wisdom and materials.

Designed and constructed in 256 BC, the Dujiangyan system controls flow and diverts water from the turbulent Min River without the use of dams. It has irrigated farmlands on the Chengdu Plain, which produced bumper crops that earned Sichuan its reputation for being a “Land of Abundance.”

How does it work?

Dujiangyan uses the natural topographic and hydrological features of the area to regulate the water from the river for irrigation, flood, and flow control, and to drain sediments.

The Min River is the largest tributary at the upper reach of the Yangtze, Asia’s longest river. It originates from the southern side of the Min Mountains at an elevation of about 3,700 meters (m).

The headworks of Dujiangyan is located at the mountain exit of the Min River and at the top of the fan-shaped Chengdu Plain. It comprises three structures: the fish mouth levee, flying sand weir, and bottleneck channel. These work seamlessly together in directing the flow of water and sediments and for flood discharge.

The fish mouth levee is a man-made island in the shape of a giant fish that lies in the middle of the river. It is constructed at a big curve, and it is about 80 m long, 39 m wide, and 6 m high.

The levee splits the water into two channels: the outer stream, which is the original course of the river, and the inner stream, which was built to be deep and narrow. In the dry season when the water level is low and velocity is slow, more water flows toward the inside of the bend or the inner stream, which directs water into the Chengdu Plain. In the rainy season when the water level is high and velocity is fast, more water is discharged, especially during floods, into the relatively shallow but wide outer stream.

The levee structure also creates the helicoidal flow phenomenon: a corkscrew-like flow of water rushing toward the river bend (inner stream) that causes massive whirlpools to spill rocks and sediments into the outer stream and then into the main river because of centrifugal force.

The flying sand weir is located at the outer edge of the inner stream. It is about 200 m long and 2.15 m high. It partners with the bottleneck channel for a second round of flood discharge and silt removal. The inner stream rushes to the narrow bottleneck channel, causing the water level to rise. When the water level is higher than the flying sand weir, the overflow spills into the discharge channel. During a large flood, the weir will collapse to allow more water to be diverted into the outer stream.

The centrifugal force of the water flowing along the river bend toward the bottleneck spins out the remaining sediments over the flying sand weir. The system removes up to 90% of sediments.

How was it built and how has it evolved?

The Dujiangyan system was designed by Li Bing, governor of Shu Prefecture, who was given the task of diverting the Min River to Chengdu.

The original construction materials were bamboo, wooden piles, and stones. The stones were loaded into woven bamboo cages to build dikes and weirs and reinforced with the wooden tripods or macha. The wooden tripods were weighed down with soil, pebbles, and other materials to form a temporary retaining wall to block the flow of water. The bamboo cages with stones were used to combat floods or to also block water during maintenance and construction.

The bottleneck channel, which is about 40 m high and 20 m wide, was cut through Mount Yulei manually to allow the water to flow into Chengdu Plain.

To maintain the efficiency of the system, the levee and weir were repaired, and the waterways were dredged regularly. Stone horses were buried in the middle of the inner stream to mark the proper depth of the riverbed. Too much dredging will result in flooding, while too little will result in insufficient water flow. The stone horses were later replaced by iron rods or wotie.

The Dujiangyan system has been improved throughout history. Water diversion facilities and reservoirs were built in the 1970s.

What has been its impact on local communities?

Before the Dujiangyan was built, the Chengdu Plain was prone to floods in the summer and droughts in winter. Sediments accumulated in the riverbed.

The water resource management system broke the vicious cycle of natural disasters year after year. It is still functioning after more than 2,000 years. Today, it benefits 23 million people by providing irrigation to 10 million mu (667,000 hectares) and domestic and industrial water supply as well as flood management.

Ecotourism also flourishes in the area because of the Dujiangyan and other cultural and natural attractions. Dujiangyan was added to the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List in 2000 and the World Irrigation Engineering Project Heritage list of the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage in 2018.

What best practices does it offer?

Nature-based solutions offer a way to provide economic, social, and environmental benefits simultaneously.  Using natural systems can be effective in improving climate resilience and in mitigating disaster risk.

Dujiangyan is a good example of how to take full advantage of natural topography and geographic conditions in harnessing the power of nature. It does not use large-scale grey infrastructures yet has withstood the test of time. It is a sustainable system with low operation costs, and it uses locally produced and readily available “circular” materials. There is little negative impact on the natural environment.

Holistic, integrated, and strategic planning went into the project. The headworks, irrigation channels, and other associated structures were designed as an integrated system. All structures work seamlessly together.

References

X. Yang. 2020. Nature-based Approach in Climate and Natural Disaster Risk Management: Dujiangyan Water Resource Management System. Presentation made at the ADB–PRC seminar series. 5 August.

Ministry of Water Resources, the People’s Republic of China. 2019. Dujiangyan—The Oldest Functioning Dam-Free Water Diversion Project. Article. 20 March. 

Author
Xiaoyan Yang

Xiaoyan Yang

Senior Programs Officer, East Asia Department, Asian Development Bank

This blog is reproduced from Development Asia.

An Integrated Approach to Preserving the Wetlands of the PRC

The Yancheng coastal wetlands are home to milu deer, egrets, and other wildlife. Photo credit: Yang Guomei.

Restoring the globally important Yancheng wetlands required engineering interventions, forest rehabilitation, and capacity building.

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Overview

One of Asia’s largest coastal wetlands is found in Jiangsu Province in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Home to many migratory birds and animals, almost 300,000 hectares of these wetlands are in Yancheng municipality.

Yet, the Yancheng coastal wetlands suffered from rapid degradation. More than half of the wetlands had vanished because of reclamation for agriculture or industry, urban expansion, pollution, and poaching.

A project co-financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) utilized an integrated ecosystem management approach to promote biodiversity conservation, sustainable forest management, and wetland-friendly farming and fishing practices in Yangcheng.

Project information

40685-013: People’s Republic of China – Jiangsu Yancheng Wetlands Protection Project

Project snapshot

      • Approval date: 16 December 2011
      • Closing date: 31 January 2019
      • Total project cost: $28.68 million
      • Executing agency: Jiangsu Provincial Government
      • Financing: Asian Development Bank and Global Environment Facility

Context

The coastal wetlands of Yancheng span 291,300 hectares and include two national nature reserves, the Yancheng Rare Birds and the Dafeng Milu. These wetlands are home to the globally endangered red-crowned crane and about 70% of the world’s population of milu deer, also known as Pere David’s deer, which was once close to extinction.

The Yancheng wetlands also provide important ecosystem services to local communities. Marine and plant species protect against coastal erosion, tsunamis, and storm surges. They help improve water quality by filtering household and industrial pollution. The two surrounding forest farms provide additional ecological protection for the two nature reserves and are part of the national coastal ecological protection forest network. The nature reserves and forest farms attract thousands of eco-tourists each year from around the world, generating employment and income for local communities.

Development Challenge

There are three reasons for the rapid degradation, wildlife habitat loss and fragmentation, and loss of biodiversity of the Yancheng coastal wetlands:

  • land-use changes from reclamation for agriculture, aquaculture, industry, and expansion of urban areas;
  • habitat degradation, caused by excessive dehydration and rapid spread of invasive species, particularly Spartina alterniflora; and
  • pollution from terrestrial sources.

Although nature reserves were established in the Yancheng wetlands since 1990, inadequate financing resources, limited management facilities and infrastructures, and weak institutional capacity restricted what the authorities can do.

From the 1980s to 2010, over half of the wildlife habitat vanished while the area of fishponds expanded eight times.

Solution

The Jiangsu Yancheng Wetlands Protection Project was designed to help the PRC improve the management of the coastal wetlands and preserve their valuable ecosystem functions. The project addressed constraints in protecting the wetland ecosystem by adopting an integrated approach. This includes the protection of the two nature reserves, the management of two forest farms, and capacity building to improve ecosystem management.

Various engineering interventions were used to protect the 3,812 hectares (ha) of wetlands at the Rare Birds Nature Reserve. Landscape regulation, habitats creation, and revegetation restored 540 ha of degraded wetlands. Water was pumped to 1,630 ha in the core zone, while 1,435 ha of fishponds were reconverted to wetlands. Pilots of invasive species control, particularly for the rapid spread of Spartina alterniflora, were also implemented for 207 ha.  

The project also helped improve the environment of the milu deer by:

  • Improving a total area of 742 ha of grazing habitat;
  • Providing 25 ha of drinking water ponds;
  • Creating 45 ha of grazing and resting ground; and
  • Providing 242 ha fodder ground (119.5 ha for rotational closure and grazing). 

Management facilities and structures were also improved in the two nature reserves through closure fencing, patrol roads and stations, waste management facilities, animal surveillance system, and public education centers.

Two forest farms covering 1,055 ha were improved and rehabilitated to provide habitats for birds and serve as shelter and protection. At the Yancheng forest farm, 185 ha were rehabilitated for birds; 302 ha of seedling nurseries were established; and 300 ha of agroforestry were developed.

At the Dafeng forest farm, 870 ha of wetland protective forests were improved. Systems and facilities for fire early warning and response, integrated pest management, and drainage works were installed.

The project developed operational management plans, conducted extensive training, and introduced a comprehensive ecological monitoring system to strengthen the institutional capacity of the authorities handling the two nature reserves.

Similarly, the management capacity of the two forest farms was largely improved through forestry management plans and staff training. They were linked to the two nature reserves to undertake bird monitoring, which was absent before the project.  

Capacity development was extended to provincial institutions; international best practices from developed countries were discussed. Improving women’s capacity to perform various roles was also given attention.   

Moreover, the project provided policy recommendations for developing an eco-compensation framework or an incentive system that provides stable financing for managing the protected areas. A provincial law, which took effect on 1 January 2017, set up the guidelines on eco-compensation for wetlands in the province. The provincial government is formulating the detailed rules.

Results

Enhanced protection of the wetland ecosystems

The project contributed to the successful listing of the Yancheng wetlands as a UNESCO World Heritage natural site in July 2019.

A total of 4,554 ha of wetlands were restored and rehabilitated, providing healthy and critical habitats for wildlife. This has enhanced biodiversity richness in the nature reserves.

  • The number of bird species in the wetlands increased by 52%—from 25 types in 2016 to 38 types in 2018.
  • The population of bird species increased by 24%—from 33,316 to 41,163.
  • The population of birds at the core zone of the Rare Birds Nature Reserve grew by 365%—from 3,173 birds in 2016 to 14,747 birds in 2018.
  • The population of milu deer has reached 5,016 heads (1,350 in the wild) by 2019, accounting for over 70% of the world population and increasing by 180% from 1,800 heads in 2012.

In terms of climate mitigation, the project increased carbon sinks in the wetlands and forest biomass as well as lessened air pollution.

Improved livelihood and participation of local communities

The project created employment opportunities for more than 2,900 people in the area, nearly half are women, through improved ecological farming and fishing practices as well as ecotourism and forest-based small businesses. Around 40 hotels and restaurants have opened in the project area since 2017, providing jobs and additional revenues.

Both nature reserves have become popular tourist destinations, attracting more than 1 million visitors annually. The Dafeng Milu Nature Reserve has been upgraded to a 5-star tourism site, the highest level in the country in 2015, and is expecting more visitors in the future. The public education facilities that were established in the nature reserves have catered to 30,000 students annually as centers for learning in the environment and biodiversity.

The project also promoted the effective participation of local communities. Project beneficiaries were trained in eco-farming, fishing, and off-farm skills; 60% of beneficiaries are women. The training activities strengthened community awareness and skills for wetland-friendly farming and fishing practices.  It also improved the capacity of local government authorities to manage the coastal wetlands and to meet international standards to keep Yancheng’s world nature heritage status.

Lessons

Enhanced institutional capacity and monitoring systems are key to improving the condition of the wetlands and sustaining ecosystem services and functions.

The project demonstrated the following promising measures in the management and protection of coastal wetlands:

  • invasive species control;
  • conversion of fishponds into wetlands; and
  • revegetation of forest habitats.

Such interventions need to be continuously reviewed to assess their long-term effectiveness. Restoration works need to take natural processes into account, particularly in formulating ideal habitats for migratory waterbirds and maintenance of restored wetlands.

Continuous international collaboration in managing heritage sites is important to share and build on existing knowledge. Partners include the Convention on Biological Diversity and Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, International Union for Conservation of Nature, and World Wildlife Fund.

References

ADB. 2020. Completion Report: Jiangsu Yancheng Wetlands Protection Project in the People’s Republic of China. Manila. Unpublished.

ADB. 2018. Preserving the Wetlands of the People’s Republic of China.

ADB. 2008. Report and Recommendation of the President to the Board of Directors: Proposed Loan to the People’s Republic of China for the Jiangsu Yancheng Wetlands Protection Project. Manila.

IUCN. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Author
Zhiming Niu

Zhiming Niu

Senior Project Officer (Environment), East Asia Department, Asian Development Bank

This blog is reproduced from Development Asia.

Nature Protection Key to the PRC Battling Yangtze’s Deadly Floods

To build back better, protect and restore the ecosystem services on which China's economic growth and jobs depend, a nature-centered approach will be pivotal

This year, the monsoon has started earlier in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), resulting in severe floods that have already affected some 38 million people and caused about $11.8 billion direct economic losses, according to the Ministry of Emergency Management of the government.

The Yangtze River basin in the southern part of the PRC has been hard hit by heavy flooding since early June this year. Hundreds of small to medium size rivers as well as major lakes including the Dongting, Poyang, and Tai in the basin have risen to their highest water levels in history. This flooding is certainly not the first of its kind; the Yangtze River basin experiences large floods about every 10 years, each causing suffering and extreme damage to the economy and environment.

The aggravating human and ecological factors in these worsening floods are mainly climate change, and ecological degradation. In the southern PRC the flood season has shifted earlier and lasts longer, concentrated in the middle part of the Yangtze River basin. This can further be attributed to El Niños that come along every 10 years. Ecological changes such as the loss of floodplain and retention areas, accelerating urbanization, and river sedimentation have had a serious impact on flood frequency and magnitude in the basin.

So the most immediate question is: what can be done to reduce the likelihood of loss while maximizing the benefits of economic development? The solutions are a complex tangle of financial, institutional, social, procedural, and technical threads. Natural hazards, such as floods, cannot be prevented, but we can mitigate the damage they cause with preventive and adaptive measures, which can be summarized under five actions.

First, rehabilitating aging flood control measures such as dikes and reservoirs is paramount. More than 80,000 reservoirs in the PRC (of which about 50,000 are in the Yangtze River basin) do not store water up to the design level as they are subject to leakage, instability of dams, and inadequate spillway capacity for emergency flood discharge. Rehabilitation of such reservoirs is a lower cost way to strengthen flood mitigation and with less adverse impact on the environment and people than building new reservoirs.

Rural areas also tend to lack flood risk mitigation standards in the PRC compared to urban areas. There is a need for promote integration where rural area and river corridors can effectively serve as a flood retention zone while urban areas can adopt flood infrastructure so that it will not increase the urban runoff that causes flooding in rural areas. Nature-based approaches, such as ecological embankments, protecting wetlands and restoring ecosystem to mitigate flood damage will be essential.

Second, ecological conservation will play a crucial role in mitigating floods. A large number of wetlands in the PRC that formerly served as flood retention areas have been destroyed at the annual rate of about 9% since the 1950s. About 1.3 million hectares of water surface areas and buffer zones mainly in Dongting, the Poyang and the Tai lakes have also been reclaimed for agriculture or urban development and the remaining volume of lakes is also reduced significantly due to sedimentation. The government has started restoring these lost wetlands, but it requires time and significant amount of finance and commitment.

The Yangtze River in downstream areas mainly around Jingzhou and Wuhan cities is highly sedimented. Where the riverbeds are higher than the ground level results in frequent dike breaches and flooding. The river sedimentation problem can be solved by regulating the sediment discharge through artificial and natural means including soil and water conservation.

Third, integrated flood risk management responsibilities are still divided among several agencies despite recent institutional reform in the PRC. Coordination mechanisms among agencies are yet to be established to promote integrated flood risk management in the river basin. The role of river basin authorities needs to be enhanced to fully enable their coordination role on a basin scale. Integrated flood risk management recognizing the nexus among water, waste, ecosystem and other sectors in a river basin should be promoted to bring tangible outcomes on the ground.

Fourth, social and gender inequalities need to be addressed. Poverty is both a cause and a consequence of vulnerability, especially in rural areas, where households rely primarily on agriculture for their livelihoods. Many emerging famers, who built up assets on newly consolidated land for agriculture, are dragged into severe poverty by the floods.

In areas with inadequate access to sanitation, floods can lead to toilet overflow, groundwater contamination, soil pollution and general environmental degradation. Increasing access to safely managed sanitation and improving public health conditions is therefore paramount to protect both human and environmental health. This is also particularly relevant to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in highly exposed communities. A participatory and community-based approach to flood risk management should be in place to reduce vulnerability and increase resiliency of local communities. The flood early warning system should also be well embedded into the community based system.

Fifth, financial mechanisms are instrumental in mitigating the impacts of monetary losses. The potential of financial products, including insurance and resilience bonds, contingent liability facilities, risk pooling and other emerging mechanisms for adapting planning and ecosystem resilience, is still largely untapped. The PRC government, international financial institutions, the private sector, commercial banks, research institute and civil society organizations have to work closely together towards tapping this potential.

Taking all these elements into account, the Asian Development Bank has invested about $2 billion to support the Yangtze River Basin Economic Belt (YREB) program to address environmental, social and economic issues with a holistic mindset. This is a step beyond traditional watershed management towards a more holistic protection of public goods, such as water resources, ecosystems, pollution control, biodiversity conservation and climate change.

To build back better, protect and restore the ecosystem services on which China’s economic growth and jobs depend, a nature-centered approach will be pivotal. As a positive step, a national green development fund with total registered capital of $12.7 billion, focusing on key areas of green development along the Yangtze River Economic Belt, was established in Shanghai on July 15.

The funds raised will be directed to investment fields such as pollution control, ecological restoration, afforestation of national land, conservation of energy and resources, green transportation and clean energy along the Yangtze river.

Together with the promulgation of a Yangtze river protection law and the establishment of a green development fund, all these actions to manage and value natural ecosystems can address societal challenges and extreme events effectively and adaptively, while providing economic dividends, human well-being and biodiversity benefits.

Author
Qingfeng Zhang

Qingfeng Zhang

Chief, Rural Development and Food Security (Agriculture) Thematic Group, ADB

This Op-Ed is reproduced from Asian Development Bank.

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