Report of the Mission to China by peter Bridgewater and Guangchun Lei, July 5th to the 13th Four wetland sites in China were visited to learn their conservation issues and solutions, and to exchange views on future directions for wetland conservation, with all levels of governmental officials. Below is a brief summery of findings that were exchanged with Chinese AA, and local staff. 1) Xixi Wetland Park Xixi wetland was recorded in Chinese literature 4500 years ago, a 60 sq. km wetland on west of Hangzhou city, one of the most famous ancient cities in China. This wetland was the starting point of the Chinese Great Waterway from Hangzhou to Beijing (1764 KM), which was completed in 604 AD. In 172 AD in a first attempt to alleviate flooding to the city, the lake was gradually turned into 3000 small fish ponds, inter-connected via water channels. On banks of the fish ponds, persimmon trees (for fruit production), and mulberry tree (for feeding silk worms) were planted by the local fisherman. Trees provide nutrients to the fish, and the sediments in the fish pond with rich nutrients were taken up to the bank each year, to fertilize the trees. Such system has been sustained for almost 2000 years. The fish pond banks are now more than 10 metres high, while the water quality remains good for fishery. However, since the 1960s, more than 80% of the wetlands have been gradually lost to agriculture and city development. The picture below shows the current wetland complex (10.08 Sq. km).

Such a dramatic loss of wetlands has lead to frequent flooding threats to the Hangzhou city. Making the problem even worse is the direct emission of poorly treated human sewage water, plus polluted water from pig farms, and non-point pollutant from intensified agriculture into the wetlands, nutrifying and polluting the wonderful system. A typical case of wetland destruction which leads to the loss of its ecological functions and services, loss of its natural beauty, and destruction of wetland cultural values. In 2004, Hangzhou Municipal government lunched a massive wetland restoration program. The municipality has allocated USD 700 million to restore the wetland complex, restore traditional farming (the persimmon tree-fishing pond, and mulberry tree-fishing pond system), restore the culture (especially religious temples, culture activities), and develop the system into a national wetland park. Such program has been additionally supported by very impressive CEPA programs, to gain support from the general public. During our visit, we saw that 3.46 sq. km of the wetlands have been restored, water quality has been improved, wetland plant communities are under good recovery, and both fish and birds are back to the system. A substantial Wetland Education Center has been established, and visitors are experiencing wetland beauty. For the municipal government there has been considerable appreciation of real estate properties around the wetlands, paying back to the municipal government revenue of 10 times of the investment. To encourage Xixi wetland model, China AA officially certified Xixi wetland as China’s first national wetland park. Meanwhile, they have requested Xixi wetland to pilot urban wetland restoration and management to provide model for national wetland (especially urban) restoration programs. Xixi wetland has become thus a key to wetland restoration in urban areas in China. Many cities have started similar programs, and many of the wetlands have been proposed to be certified as national wetland park. To draw international experience on urban wetland management, and its role in wetland CEPA, an international wetland forum has been planned for October 2006. During the mission, we appraised the success of the Xixi wetland restoration program, and provided our advice on wetland management planning, integrated wetland research and monitoring schemes, the need of capacity building, and the innovative CEPA programs to be conducted at the Xixi wetlands.

Mulberry Surrounded Fish Ponds

2) Ruoergai Marshes

The Ruoergai Marshes are transboundary to the Sichuan and Gansu Provinces in the upper Yellow River

on the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau (3,400 to 3,900 m. altitude). They consist of approximately 1

million ha. of peat bogs, sedge marshes, lakes and wet grasslands, interspersed with low hills and drier

grasslands. Tibetan people, who are almost exclusively pasturalists with vast herds of sheep, yaks,

horses and goats, inhabit the Ruoergai Plateau.

Ruoergai NNR, Gaihai Lake NNR, Shouqu PNR and intervening areas (approx. 500,000

hectares see Annex 7b) form the largest contiguous area of high altitude peat bog remaining in China,

and one of the largest areas in the world. The relative scarcity of high altitude peat bogs of this size

ensures the global biodiversity significance of Ruoergai Marshes for diverse and endemic

Tibetan/Himalayan flora, typical of montane peat bogs and alpine grassland. The marshes are also of

high global significance as an important breeding area for threatened bird species, especially for

summering and breeding populations of black-necked cranes, Grus nigricollis. In summer, the population

totals 600-900, with about 150-200 breeding pairs, making this the most important breeding and

summering area for the species in the world. The marshes and associated rivers also support other

significant species, including four rare and endemic fish, two rare or endemic amphibians and two

threatened mammals.

The major problem we found from the visit is related to drying of the wetland, a practice that was initiated in 1960s to allow the marshes develop into pasture. More than 700 km of drainage channels were dug during the period of 1965-1973, which led to the drying up of 140,000 ha of swamp. Over the 40 years, the channels have been flushed deeper and deeper. Some key channels have been eroded as deep as 2 meters, which lowers the water table, leading to the degradation of wetland ecosystem, and deteriorating of the pasture land due to a population explosion of the Pica. These problem have also been exaggerated by the combination of global warming and over grazing. To tackle the problems above, the government has established 5 nature reserves which cover about 0.5 million ha. During our trip, we visited two of these reserves in Sichuan Province . Over the past five years, government from all levels invested more 3 million USD for reserve infrastructure development (office building, patrol stations, and equipments), research and monitoring programmes, and pilot restoration projects. A large scale restoration project is in the pipeline from the national budget line. During the visit, local governments (including provincial, prefecture and county government) and nature reserve authorities expressed their strong wishes to designate the site as Ramsar site. We welcomed the proposal, and encouraged China AA to submit RIS as soon as possible. Meanwhile, we encouraged the Chinese colleagues to look at the broad sustainable development issues, address the need of a healthy wetlands for local people pogramme for the province, as well as for downstream in China, given he important role in mitigating climate change on global scale these wetlands have.

Participants at the debriefing on the Ruoergai marshes, Ruoergai headquarters building.

3) Other sites visited: Huanglong Valley and Jiuzhaigou (nine village valley) On way back from Ruoergai Marshes, we visited two karst type wetlands, both are MAB reserves and World Heritage sites. 3.1 Huanglong Valley

The Huanglong valley is made up of snow-capped peaks and the easternmost of all the Chinese glaciers. In addition to its mountain landscape, spectacular limestone formations, waterfalls and hot springs (see pictures below) are the major tourist attraction, which is visited by 1 million visitors annually. The area also has a population of endangered animals, including the giant panda and the Sichuan golden snub-nosed monkey.

3.2 Jiuzhaigou (Nine Village Valley) Stretching over 72,000 ha in the northern part of Sichuan Province, the jagged Jiuzhaigou valley reaches a height of more than 4,800 m, thus comprising a series of diverse forest ecosystems. Its superb landscapes are particularly interesting for their series of narrow conic karst land forms and spectacular waterfalls. Some 140 bird species also inhabit the valley, as well as a number of endangered plant and animal species, including the giant panda.

Like Ruoergai, these two parks are being considered for nomination as Ramsar sites, and as they are excellent examples of Karstic wetlands (under-represented in the Convention), as well as excellent examples of well managed wetlands subject to heavy tourism we hope the Chinese authorities will so nominate them!