Charting an eco-future for Yangtze and China

The majestic Yangtze - the longest river in the world flowing through a single country - nurtures an area of more than 2 million square kilometers, or about one-fifth of China. It is also one of the busiest inland rivers on the planet and about 400 million people rely on it for their water needs.

The Yangtze and its fertile basin generate around 45 percent of China's gross domestic product and have been key drivers of the economic growth that has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty in recent decades. But that prosperity has taken a toll - increasingly in the form of poor agriculture and rural waste management practices, rather than the process of urbanization alone. In 2010, water used to irrigate fertilized fields became a greater source of pollution in the Yangtze River than urban water pollution.

This heightened pollution in the main river has severely reduced the quality of drinking water, creating other health problems as well as reducing biodiversity. Smaller lakes and tributaries also suffer from high levels of pollution. Besides, dams, floods, and deforestation have made the riverbanks less stable and more prone to landslides. And climate change will likely worsen these effects over time.