Yangtze protection efforts enter the mainstream

She hopes to have the lotus field designated as a small conservation area, so no construction will be allowed in the immediate proximity.

Also in January, a country-level action plan for the protection and restoration of the Yangtze released by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and the National Development and Reform Commission promised greater financial support for environmental compensation.

The plan pledges to strengthen the reward-and-punishment mechanism, linking government funding with effective environmental management in provinces and municipalities along the Yangtze.

On Wednesday, the ministry held a video conference with local officials to launch eight campaigns, including inspections of sewage outlets, measures to outlaw the dumping of solid waste in the river, the restoration of water classified below Grade V (the lowest level of national water quality) and the launch of satellite remote sensing to detect illegal development in nature reserves.

Lyu Zhongmei, deputy director of the social and legal committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said the country needs an over-arching law to coordinate protection along the Yangtze.

She noted that more than 30 regulations are related to water management along the river, in addition to about 76 tasks spread over 15 different ministerial bodies.

"The scattered nature of management does not help protection efforts, and also results in conflicting plans produced by different governmental bodies," said Lyu, who has been studying the feasibility of a law to protect the river since 1996.

During her time as a deputy to the National People's Congress from 2003 to 2017, she proposed river protection legislation three times. Finally, in September, the standing committee of the 13th NPC announced that the Yangtze River Protection Law had been listed in the first category for legislation, meaning a draft will be reviewed during NPC sessions until 2023.

"It is now urgent that legislators and legal scholars formulate a new legal design to deal with the many factors involved in protecting our mother river," she said.