Too good to lose

Preserving wetlands key to improving China's ecosystem and tapping their potential for combating climate change

Next year, China is due to host the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity and 14th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Wetlands.

The two events are crucial to conserving biodiversity and the fact that China is hosting them shows the international community's trust and elevated expectations of China's commitment to global biodiversity conservation.

In recent years, China has indeed undertaken ecological restoration and conservation efforts, particularly in expanding the coverage and enhancing the management of protected areas. Taking wetlands as an example, the number of Chinese wetlands listed as Wetlands of International Importance has risen from 37 in 2010 to 64 in 2020. The total coverage of these wetlands is over 7.3 million hectares, accounting for 13.5 percent of the country's total wetland area. These wetlands have a rich biodiversity and provide critical habitats for many rare or endangered bird species. They are also ideal settings for climate regulation and carbon sequestration.

According to the recently released proposals for formulating the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) and the objectives for the year 2035, in the coming decades, wetlands protection and management will be one of main tasks for improving the quality of China's ecosystem and its stability.

The aim is to preserve 53.6 million hectares of wetlands, of which 46.6 million hectares should be natural wetlands. However, the latest monitoring of the country's wetlands shows that from 2000 to 2015 the natural wetland area has shrunk by 756,200 hectares and other types of wetlands by 847,000 hectares (mostly in the Song-Liao Plain in Northeast China and the lower reaches of the Yangtze River), even though the total wetland area has increased by 154,800 hectares.

Some 60 percent of the loss in natural wetland area has been caused by agricultural and urban expansion. Therefore, huge challenges remain in balancing development with conservation and maintaining the healthy ecosystem services and functions provided by wetlands, particularly natural ones.

Since it began operations in China about 35 years ago, the Asian Development Bank has supported the conservation of several of the country's wetlands. Among them, the Yancheng Coastal Wetlands in Jiangsu province, which provides critical habitats for many endangered and rare bird species on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List. Among the birds is the red-crowned crane (40 percent to 80 percent of the global population).The wetlands also support the largest global population of the milu or Pere David's deer (70 percent). After completion of the Yancheng project in 2018, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization listed the Yancheng Coastal Wetlands as a World Natural Heritage Site.

One lesson learned from the Yancheng project and wetland conservation projects in other provinces is that protection of wetlands requires integrated ecosystem management. This approach as defined by the Convention on Biological Diversity is a strategy for the integrated management of land, water and living resources that promotes conservation and sustainable use in an equitable way.

First, conservation for protected areas (or core zones) should be integrated with management in the protected areas. The core zone provides the most critical habitats and necessary interventions are needed to maintain core ecological functions. Providing alternative livelihoods for local farmers, such as eco-farming, eco-fishing, and ecotourism helps reduce conflicts between land cultivation and biodiversity conservation.

Second, engineering measures should be integrated with nature-based approaches. One of the major factors causing natural wetland shrinkage is large-scale land reclamation for agriculture or aquaculture. Engineering measures prove efficient in restoring wetlands in such cases.

Third, facilities need to be integrated with good management. Effective operation and maintenance of infrastructure and/or facilities should always be ensured. And it is fundamental to better wetland management as well as greater public awareness of biodiversity conservation.

Fourth, wetland conservation's potential for arresting climate change should be recognized. Wetlands are considered to be one of the biggest carbon sinks. Covering approximately 6 to 9 percent of the Earth's surface, they contain 20 to 30 percent of global terrestrial carbon. Therefore, wetland conservation can preserve carbon storage. But loss or degradation of wetlands can lead to considerable greenhouse gas emissions. Research by Texas A&M University in 2018 estimated that the coastal wetlands in China carry the carbon stock equivalent of 48 million to 124 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, but extensive wetland loss is equivalent of 6.8 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually on average. Wetland restoration can increase the carbon sink significantly. Therefore, both wetlands conservation and restoration play a part in reducing carbon emissions.

Integrated wetland management also requires sound legislation, regulation and policies. Encouragingly, most provinces in China have released regulations on wetland conservation and protection. A Law of Wetland Protection, which is in the process of legislation, is expected to be released in a year or two. Implementation regulations and/or rules will also be formulated accordingly. With these legislations, wetland protection is likely to be strengthened further.

Meanwhile, international cooperation is required to enhance the management of the wetlands along the regional flyways, such as the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, to share information.

There are great opportunities for China to showcase sound wetland management, which will help tackle climate change and preserve biodiversity. This will benefit not just the country but also the rest of the world.

The author is a senior project officer from the Asian Development Bank's Resident Mission in China. The author contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.