Why is it difficult to reconcile "birds" and "people's livelihood"
——Exploration and Thinking of Wetland Protection in Heilongjiang River Basin
【Ecology Focus】
The Heilongjiang River Basin (the Chinese part) includes the whole of Heilongjiang Province, most of Jilin Province and the northeast of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. It is the main distribution area of wetlands in my country. The area of wetlands accounts for about 17.4% of the total area of wetlands in the country.
A national key R&D project led by the Northeast Institute of Geography and Agricultural Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, "Research on the Response of Mid- and High-latitude Wetland Systems to Climate Change" found that mid- and high-latitude wetlands, including the Heilongjiang River Basin, are inherently the most vulnerable to climate change. It is sensitive and particularly fragile. Under the superimposed influence of climate change and high-intensity human activities, its degradation and loss of function are far faster than other types of ecosystems.
At present, what are the difficulties and challenges in the protection and restoration of wetlands in this region?
How to achieve a balance between wetland protection and local economic development?
How to solve the "weakness" in management and law enforcement caused by the unclear ownership of land and the lack of law?
In response to the above issues, our reporter conducted research interviews.
1. Watershed wetlands are threatened by human activities
Located in the Sanjiang Plain, Honghe National Nature Reserve, surrounded by farmland, looks like an isolated island from the sky.
Since the early 1990s, the Honghe National Nature Reserve has been committed to protecting endangered birds, the Oriental White Stork. Through the construction of artificial nests, 300 to 400 Oriental White Storks are brought here each year to breed.
In order to reduce the impact of the surrounding agricultural production on the birds, the reserve deliberately dug ditches and built dikes to block it.
“Due to agricultural production in the early years, the dense river system of the wetland was manually dug up. There was no problem with sufficient rainfall in the past two years, but once a drought year is encountered, the wetland will be in danger of degradation due to lack of water.” Work in the reserve The staff expressed concern.
The Sanjiang Plain is the largest and most concentrated wetland in my country with rich biodiversity.
Historically, the development of the Sanjiang Plain has made important contributions to satisfying national food needs and ensuring national food security.
However, long-term agricultural reclamation and construction of water conservancy projects have gradually reduced the area of wetlands, which has caused an increase in the frequency of droughts and floods and increased soil erosion.
"The construction of some water conservancy projects cut off the natural connection between natural rivers and lakes and marshes, and the ditching and drainage of wetlands dried up the wetlands, resulting in wetland hydrological changes, decline in functions and even disappearance." Deputy Director, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agricultural Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences Wu Haitao pointed out.
Not only the Sanjiang Plain, but due to factors such as reclamation, grazing, and construction of water conservancy projects, many wetlands in the Heilongjiang River Basin have been damaged to varying degrees, with reduced area and degraded functions.
Related surveys show that in the past 25 years, the area of wetlands in the Sanjiang Plain has lost 71%, the area of wetlands in the Songnen Plain has lost 23%, and nearly 72% of the existing wetlands have been threatened by different factors.
"Heilongjiang River Basin has a large area and wide distribution of wetlands. There are a large number of residents living around the wetlands. Their farming, grazing, fishing and hunting and other production and living activities once became the main threat to the wetland reserve." Wu Haitao pointed out.
2. From rescue protection to comprehensive protection
Wetlands play a pivotal role in purifying water bodies, maintaining ecological balance, and mitigating climate change. Wetland ecosystems are habitats for birds, fish, and amphibians.
In recent years, with the comprehensive strengthening of ecological environmental protection and the gradual deepening of people's understanding of the ecological functions of wetlands, wetland protection and restoration have begun to become a consensus. Various regions in the Heilongjiang River Basin are also actively trying and exploring different protection models.
Against the backdrop of endless snow, the Fujin Wetland Park in winter is vast and magnificent.
"It turns out that here is one piece in the east and one piece in the west, and it was torn apart by reclamation." said Liu Yujiang, deputy director of the Sanhuanpao National Nature Reserve Administration.
In 2003, Heilongjiang Province took the lead in promulgating the first wetland regulations in the country. The wetlands in the Sanjiang Plain were rescued and protected. Returning farmland to wetland and restoring wetland resources became one of the important measures.
"It was the most difficult at the beginning. Doing work from house to house. If there are legal procedures, use land replacement to exit; if there are no legal procedures, persuade to quit actively." Liu Yujiang told reporters that in 2014, we started to return farmland to wetlands and wetland ecology. After the pilot benefit compensation, the central government will give 1,000 yuan in subsidies for every mu of land returned.
"At that time, I spent more than 2,000 yuan on repairing the cofferdam. Can I retreat?" Li Changji is a villager in Minsheng Village near the Wetland Park. Although he does not understand him, he has repeatedly persuaded the staff. He still retreated.
After the opening of the wetland park, he was hired as a staff member, earning more than 100,000 yuan a year.
Liu Yujiang introduced that the Sanhuanpao National Nature Reserve covers an area of 27,000 hectares, of which 4 villages occupy 6,000 hectares of arable land.
In order to encourage villagers to actively participate in the protection of wetlands, the Reserve Management Bureau has explored a way of "community building".
“The construction of the protected area cannot be opposed to the villagers. We pay for the roads and street lights in the village to improve the village’s infrastructure. During the slack in farming, the surrounding villagers can come to the wetland park to do odd jobs to make money to subsidize their families.”
Heilongjiang Dajiahe Provincial Nature Reserve is adjacent to the Northeast Black Bee National Nature Reserve. With its unique geographical advantages, the Reserve Authority has promoted the people to get rid of poverty by developing the black bee industry and at the same time guide farmers to adjust the industrial structure and plant nectar plants. At the same time, gradually return farmland to wetland.
"In recent years, the environment in the reserve has become better and better, and flowers that have not been seen for many years have reappeared." Han Jinpeng, 50, has tasted the sweetness of beekeeping and earned more than 500,000 yuan in three years.
Seeing that planting nectar plants not only saves breeding costs, but can also increase the amount of nectar production. This year, she planted 360 acres of motherwort and hyacinth plants around her bee farm.
Relevant statistics show that from 2014 to 2020, Heilongjiang Province has returned 490,900 mu of farmland to wetland, accounting for 30.02% of the national total.
Returning farmland to wetland not only effectively expands the area of wetlands, but also expands the habitat and reproduction space of endangered rare wild animals and plants.
In October this year, Jilin Momoge National Nature Reserve once again ushered in the peak period of migratory bird migration.
Preliminary investigations show that the flagship species of Momoge wetland has entered more than 700 birds, of which young birds account for about 13% of the population.
"The increase in the proportion of young birds is extremely important for this critically endangered species, and it is expected that the white crane population will reach a new high." The staff of the reserve said.
“According to the results of the second national wetland resource survey, we conducted a major investigation of the province’s wetlands and halted more than 20 projects occupying wetlands.” Liu Zhuang, Director of the Wetland Management Division of Jilin Forestry and Grassland Bureau, said that currently Jilin The province incorporates wetlands and blue sky, clear water, black soil, green mountains, green grass, etc. into the content of the pollution prevention and control battle and vigorously promotes it, "from the rescue protection in the past to the comprehensive protection."
In the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the effectiveness of wetland protection and restoration has been included in the evaluation system for leading cadres, and a one-vote veto system has been implemented to severely punish the destruction of wetlands.
Relevant data show that the wetland protection rate in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has increased from 16.77% when forest logging stopped to 52.61% currently.
Wetland protection is a complex social system project.
In order to strengthen coordination and cooperation within the region, in 2019, the Heilongjiang River Basin Wetland Protection Network was established.
“At present, China has established a wetland protection network in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, a wetland protection network in the Yellow River Basin, and a coastal wetland protection network. These networks have played a key role in wetland protection. The Heilongjiang River Basin wetland protection network must not only strengthen the relationship between different regions in the river basin. International cooperation must be strengthened even more.” Liu Peiqi, Director of Heilongjiang River Basin Project, Northeast China Project Office, WWF pointed out.
3. Difficulties in ownership and law enforcement need to be solved urgently
Due to the intricate property rights of cultivated land involved in “returning farmland to wetland”, the ownership of wetlands is unclear, and law enforcement is difficult, the conflict between humans and nature for land has not been effectively resolved, and wetland protection is still difficult.
In a national nature reserve in the Sanjiang Plain, the foraging range of birds was taken into consideration when the area was constructed, and a large amount of cultivated land in the surrounding towns and villages was included. There is even a certain amount of farmland in the core area of the reserve. Legally cultivated land.
These primitive cultivated lands are intertwined with wetlands in protected areas, which brings many problems to the protection and management of wetlands.
"For a long time, in the process of production and life, local people often have to compete with animals and plants for space and land for their livelihood. In recent years, we are also exploring how to realize the coordinated development of people and wetlands, including increasing publicity and strict law enforcement. Punishment of sabotage, etc., but if the people’s livelihood problem is not resolved, this contradiction may not be fundamentally resolved." said Lin Baoqing, deputy director of the Jilin Xianghai National Nature Reserve Administration.
In this regard, Sun Zhigang, deputy director of the Wetland Management Division of the Heilongjiang Forestry and Grassland Bureau, deeply felt: “Heilongjiang is both a large resource province and a large agricultural province. It also maintains national ecological security and food security, but as a small economic province, how Achieving a balance between economic development and wetland protection requires in-depth research."
According to Professor Yu Hongxian of Northeast Forestry University, due to historical reasons, the delineation of some wetland reserves is unreasonable, and the scope of the reserves should be readjusted and delineated scientifically in light of current actual conditions.
"Some basic farmland in non-core areas around the reserve can be appropriately reduced, and the amount of pesticides and fertilizers applied will be restricted. For the cultivated land located in the core area of the reserve, ecological compensation should be increased and exit as soon as possible."
Wu Haitao believes that the current investment in wetland protection in my country mainly comes from the government, and the public's awareness of wetland protection has not yet formed, and the lack of motivation for wetland protection has caused a conflict between environmental rights and economic interests.
He suggested building an eco-industry development model to develop suitable eco-industries while protecting wetlands to increase the income of local residents, so that ordinary people can benefit from ecological protection, and form a virtuous circle of "development in protection and protection in development".
"At the same time, we will explore multi-channel, diversified and multi-level funding mechanisms such as government-led, state-invested, donations, funds, etc., to guide the public to actively participate in wetland protection."
The reporter also learned during the interview that some plots are not only wetland parks, but also nature reserves and forest parks, and there is a certain "covering phenomenon".
"The wetlands we are talking about mostly refer to the definition of ecological attributes. They are different from woodland and grassland, and there is no concept of ownership. Wetlands in some places overlap with other types of land, which are both wetland and woodland and grassland. , There will be a lot of disputes in management. Although there are local regulations as a basis for law enforcement, it is impossible to provide proof of ownership at the judicial level." Liu Zhuang emphasized.
"The unclear ownership of land parcels and the lack of national wetland protection laws have caused the grassroots wetland protection departments to be'weak' in management and law enforcement, making it difficult to form an effective binding force on wetland destruction." Yu Hongxian added.
my country's wetland legislation started relatively late.
After joining the "Wetland Convention" in 1992, although many provinces have successively issued local regulations on wetland protection, as of now, there is no specific legislation on wetland in China.
In this regard, industry experts and scholars have called for the formulation of a national wetland protection law as soon as possible, with legal provisions to clarify the basic definitions of wetlands, the responsibilities of administrative departments, the disciplinary boundaries and implementation standards for violations of wetlands, and to ensure that “wetland protection Laws can be followed, and damage to wetlands is severely punished in accordance with the law."
(Our reporter Zhang Shiying)