BIZCHINA> Review & Analysis
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BIZCHINA> Review & Analysis
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Restoring China's disappearing wetlands
By Yu Tianyu (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-11-09 07:50 Pilot projects Qixinhe National Nature Reserve, located in Baoqing county in the Sanjiang Plain, is one of six pilot natural reserves under the Asian Development Bank project. The local bureau has been converting farmlands to wetlands since 2005. The plan calls for a total conversion of 400 hectares of farmlands to wetlands. The project has faced criticism at a time when increasing prices for agricultural products make farmers reluctant to restore their lands to protected wetlands. So local officials have traveled to each home to negotiate with farmers and inform them of the importance of improving the environment. Wang Lansheng, a 62-year-old farmer living at Qixinghe village in Baoqing county, was among the first farmers in his region to become involved in the farmland-to-wetlands project. Wang said he grew crops himself on his 1.5 hectares of land in the 1960s. "Unfortunately, there were either droughts or floods in the past, and we would harvest nearly nothing after a year of hard work," he said. "I quit my previous farmland in 2005, responding to the government's encouragement. In return, they allocated me another plot of farmland of 0.8 hectares. Since then, I have started a new life," Wang said. Wang said he does not fully understand the science behind efforts to protect the wetlands. "I cannot understand what climate change is, and I don't know about environmental protection," Wang said. "We farmers just rely on Heaven for food generation to generation. When the authorities told me the farmland-to-wetlands project is to flatter God, I decided to have a try," he said. Wang won his gamble. Today, he earns as much as 100,000 yuan each year by growing "green" fruits and vegetables on his new plot of land, he said. "I bought a big apartment in the county, and my wife and I usually spend holidays there," he said. So far, the Qixinghe National Natural Reserve has restored about 440 hectares of farmlands as wetlands. The project has received about 860,000 yuan in compensation, which has been used to construct water facilities and other infrastructure. Farmers must be compensated for lost income and provided replacement land, said Ma Zhong, dean of the School of Environment and Natural Resources at Renmin University of China. Li Xiaoyun, an expert at China Agricultural University, said that, based on local conditions, different regions can choose alternative ways for residents who are affected by the farmland-to-wetlands project to earn a livelihood. China this year began a second survey of the country's wetland resources. Over the next four years, officials will explore how to best compensate landowners and manage project funds. The Government's National Basic Farmland Protection Policy states that some farmlands in the Sanjiang Plain wetlands are designated as basic farmlands that cannot be restored to wetlands. Experts said the goal is to achieve the most workable balance between wetlands restoration and agricultural production. "After all, lessons learned and models created from the pilot wetlands restoration at Sanjiang Plain will be replicated for other wetlands," said Kobayashi of the Asian Development Bank. Protecting wildlife Wetlands cover only 6 percent of the total area of earth, but they provide living habitats for more than 20 percent of the world's species. In China, half of the country's 40 protected birds live in the wetlands. Still, under the pressure of a booming economy and a fast-growing population, coastal wetlands in China shrank about 50 percent in the past 50 years. So far, the total area of wetlands in China is about 65.9 million hectares, accounting for 10 percent of the world's total amount.
China in 1992 ratified the Ramsar Convention, which is an international treaty for the sustainable use and conservation of wetlands. China allocated $1.4 billion for wetlands protection between 2005 and 2010. China also launched the National Program for Wetlands Protection Engineering, which plans to restore 1.4 million hectares of wetlands and create 713 wetlands reserves by 2030. A recent popular Chinese movie, If You Are The One, has raised public attention about the Xixi Wetlands in Zhejiang province, which was one of the movie's filming locations. Experts said the film illustrated that public awareness of the need to protect China's wetlands is growing, too.
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