Globally, many governments and societies are facing the challenges of sustainably managing rivers. Since every person and industry along a river relies on the water and is affected by the river in one way or another. 

China is no exception.

Last weekend, the Yangtze Forum was held in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province. For the first time, provincial governors and key ministers from China's water, environment, forest, and agriculture sectors in the Yangtze River basin gathered to develop a common strategy and action plan for protecting the entire basin.

The forum was expected to find sustainable ways to ensure the region's development did not further compromise the river basin's delicate health.

With a length of 6,378 kilometers, the Yangtze River is the world's third longest river. Its basin, covering 1.8 million square kilometers, is home to more than 420 million people, about a third of China's population. It is also the habitat of the critically endangered giant panda and other precious animals, such as the Siberian crane, leopard, and the Yangtze River dolphin.

The Yangtze River provides 40 percent of China's freshwater resources, its basin more than 70 percent of the country's rice, 40 percent of the grain. It generates 40 percent of China's gross domestic product.

However, the country's development drive over the past two decades has seen overemphasis on the economic function of the river while neglecting its ecological status, said Chen Yiyu, a member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and president of the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

Dams and thousands of kilometers of dykes have already cut off the river's links to lakes, once a complex wetland network fulfilling important natural functions such as fish spawning and feeding.

Intensive land reclamation projects have created agricultural and urban settlements on former floodplains and lakes. In the past 50 years, more than 800 lakes along the Yangtze River have been lost due to such reclamation efforts.

"The ill effects of water infrastructure projects have already surfaced. Different entities are competing with each other for various economic benefits," said Chen, also an academician with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Under most circumstances, different departments administer their own aspects of the river system, and administrative intervention has become the most frequently used method to deal with conflicts over water resources.

"The current river basin management mechanism is ineffective in addressing problems on the river, which have become as complicated as the river's tributaries," said Chen.

According to Chen Yide, deputy head of the Bureau of Fisheries with the Ministry of Agriculture, industrial enterprises along the Yangtze River let off as much as 14.2 billion tons sewage every year accounting for more than 42 per cent of the nation's total.

"The excessive let-off of industrial and life sewage into the river has led to great fishery losses, which gives rise to great social concerns about fishermen's legitimate rights," Chen Yide said.

Especially, in recent years, construction of hydropower projects has artificially cut off the routes for fish migrations and further reduced the living areas for the aquatic life. Some fish, such as paddle fish and Chinese sturgeon, are on the brink of dying out.

"Few laws and regulations are available for the integrated management of the river basin. The stake holders have not taken an active part in the waterway's management and, as a result, the public interest is not being guaranteed," said Chen Yiyu.

Integrated management

Most of the participants of the forum agreed that an integrated river basin management (IRBM) strategy, which has been widely applied in Western countries, is a must for China if the river is to be saved.

IRBM refers to the cross-departmental and cross-jurisdictional co-ordination and management throughout the entire river basin and offers an institutional and policy framework for incorporating economic growth, social welfare and environmental sustainability into the decision-making process.

"Based on the ecological system theory and the extensive participation of stake holders, IRBM intends to break departmental and administrative barriers in the management of river basins. It is a systematic and comprehensive management regime to rejuvenate the river," said Chen.

Since the 1990s, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), a key initiator and supporter of the forum, has been demonstrating and advocating the integrated management of the Yangtze River, finding a way to work with, rather than against, the river.

"Our project's aim is to restore floodplains to reduce flood risks, enhance conservation of wildlife, and improve the livelihoods of local residents," Jamie Pittock, director of Global Freshwater Program of WWF International, told China Daily.

In 2003, Pittock had the opportunity to visit one of these projects, at Xipanshanzou, a village in Hanshou County, Hunan Province, which was built the reclaimed land from the Dongting Lake. By 1997 the lake had been reduced to 43 percent of its original size in 1825, due to reclamation for agriculture and deposits of eroded sediments.

"My Chinese colleagues' work at the 110 hectares of Xipanshanzou impressed me very much. Flood risk was reduced at the village and habitat for nature increased, and the village was persuaded to breach its dyke and has restored the lake voluntarily. By developing flood-adapted economy and organic food production, their livelihoods have clearly improved," said Pittock.

In fact, their income increased nearly five times by 2003 from an average of 2,000 yuan (US$240) per household in 1999, due to diversification of agriculture production. Compared with rice, which they used to plant on the reclaimed land, commodities like fish and organic horticulture have brought them greater incomes.

Another example Pittock cited to demonstrate the benefits of integrated management is the use of sustainable fisheries management in Qingshan, also in Hunan Province, near the West Dongting Lake. There, co-management of a restored lake habitat adjoining a nature reserve has been promoted.

After retreating the land for a lake in the 1990s, many villagers turned to capturing fish to make a living, by applying electricity and poison, dragging for spiral shells and mowing reeds in the lake. As a result, the number of fish dramatically decreased and migratory birds did not come back any longer.

Though the local government had worked out strict punishments on such fishing activities, the ecological conditions in the lake were barely improved. On the contrary, relations between the fishermen and the government were increasingly strained.

In March 2004, WWF brought the concept of co-management to the local government. The fishermen were given management rights on the lake but they had to ensure that the fishing activities were both environmentally friendly and economically sound to benefit both the local people and the environment.

The effect is quite evident. Thousands of migratory birds wintered on this restored wetlands in 2004, and in January 2005 the local community received income of more than 1.069 million yuan (US$129,000) from fishing.

As a result, national authorities identified Qingshan as one of the Best 10 Sustainable Development Cases in China in March 2005.

Funded by Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd (HSBC)'s "Investing in Nature" Program, WWF has successfully restored the aquatic plants at the Honghu Lake demonstration site in the Yangtze River basin, the 10th largest freshwater lake in China.

A way has been devised to re-introduce water and fish fry into the wetland areas. The floodgates of a dam, the sole function of which was once to prevent and drain off floods, will now be opened during the fish breeding season, allowing fish to flow into the wetlands from the Yangtze.

The program is also introducing alternative fishing in Zhangdu Lake and Honghu Lake. These two lakes were heavily degraded due to intensive fish and crab farming, fish nets, and polders.

By restoring aquatic plants in the lakes, water quality has significantly improved and the highly endangered Oriental White Stork has returned for the first time in a decade.

"During the summer, residents around this pilot site even come to drink the clear water, and we are preparing to pipe some of this water to supply the local community," said Pittock.

IRBM will be deemed, during the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10) period and beyond, as the guideline for the comprehensive development of land, ecological conservation, environmental protection and hydraulic engineering, Chen Yiyu said.

The pilot program is to be launched on the first tributary of the Yangtze River and key regions, such as the Chishui River basin, the Taihu Lake basin and the Three Gorges reservoir area.

Declaration

After extensive and in-depth discussions, the participants of the Yangtze River Forum published the Yangtze Declaration on Protection and Development.

In view of the requirement for socio-economic development and the current status of the Yangtze ecosystem, the participants perceive the core task now as to ensure a healthy Yangtze by securing "three safeties."

First, to secure the clean drinking water supply for people in the basin and water import areas.

Second, ensuring the safety against floods by further enhancing the comprehensive flood-control system in the basin.

And third, ensuring ecological safety by concentrating ecological enhancement in the ecologically vulnerable areas, such as the river source area, the upper reaches where most intensive hydropower development is ongoing, key water source regions, detention basins in middle regions, and the lower reaches subjected to severe flood threats, fishery and, rare species populated water areas, including important wetlands like Dongting Lake, Poyang Lake and the Yangtze estuary.

(China Daily April 21, 2005)