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Winter is poetic in Xixi National Wetland Park， located in Hangzhou， capital of east China’s Zhejiang Province. Tall reeds crowned with fluffy white flowers dip and sway in wind， with bits and pieces drifting off like flurries.
Lying 5 km away from the famous West Lake， the wetland park covers an area of 10 square km， 70 percent of which is made up of water bodies， such as fish ponds， rivers， and lakes.
The park boasts both natural beauty and places of historical interest. Four to five thousand years ago， the area was low-lying land inundated in summer by water from nearby Tianmu Mountain. More than 1，000 years ago， a town was formed.
Some literati and hermits used to reside in the area， leaving behind poems and sculptures testifying to their talent. For centuries， farmers have fed fish and silkworms and grown vegetables and teas in the vicinity.
In recent decades， urbanization in the area has led to a dwindling of the wetland area.
Local government took measures to restore the wetland. The area was designed into a wetland park. Part of it features activities that are part and parcel of daily life in a water village， such as silkworm feeding and silk production. In May 2005， the park was opened to the public. A daily limit of 3，000 visitors has been imposed to protect the environment.
Wetland accounts for 10.9 percent of Zhejiang’s total area. In December 2014， the province published a list of 32 important wetland parks and reserves in the province. It set a goal of putting 60 percent of its natural wetlands under protection by the year 2017.
China is ranked fourth in the world in wetland surface area， with 10 percent of the world’s wetland areas， according to World Wildlife Fund for Nature （WWF）.
Wetlands are essential for maintaining biodiversity， controlling floods and removing pollutants， as well as rice and fish production， transport， and hydropower generation.
Wetland covers 5.58 percent of China’s total land area， half of which is located in the Tibet and Inner Mongolia autonomous regions， and in the provinces of Qinghai and Heilongjiang， according to the second nationwide wetland resource investigation conducted from 2009 to 2013， the results of which were published in January 2014.
Between 2004 and 2013， the country’s wetlands declined by 8.82 percent， with natural wetland area accounting for 87.08 percent of the total wetland area， down by 9.33 percent， the national study revealed. Enhanced protection efforts
In the 1970s， China’s first wetland nature reserve was created. China joined the International Convention on Wetlands in 1992 and designated seven wetland sites as Wetlands of International Importance.
In 2000， a National Wetland Conservation Action Plan for China was released， which spelled out guidelines for the conservation and wise use of wetlands in the future.
China’s leadership is committed to promoting ecological progress and sustainable development. Wetland conservation and management have been listed on the national agenda.
Now more wetland areas are under protection. As of the end of 2013， there had been 577 wetland nature reserves and 468 wetland parks in China， found the Second National Wetland Resources Inventory. The survey showed that between 2004 and 2013， wetland areas under protection increased from 30.49 percent to 43.51 percent.
The government has also launched a project to restore farmland to wetland. In northeast China’s Jilin Province， many wetlands dried up because of water shortage， which were then reclaimed by farmers to cultivate crops. In 2013， the province started the farmland-back-to-wetland project. Under the project， 1，650 hectares of farmland near Xinlong Reservoir in Baicheng have been restored into wetland. The reservoir dried up years ago， so canals and ditches were dug to channel water from nearby rivers and lakes into the reservoir and surrounding areas.
Lan Hongliang， head of the Forestry Department of Jilin， said that local residents were given a subsidy to resettle into new life and to buy fish hatchlings and fishing tools in an interview with Jilin TV station.
Some individuals have also voluntarily engaged in wetland protection. Wang Jianmin， a middle-aged photographer in Tianjin Municipality， is one of them. For more than two decades， he has taken pictures of wetlands and informed local residents of the importance of wetland and bird protection. Wang said that he has a dream to see the homeland as it was when he was a child.
Calls for a national law
Despite the government’s conservation efforts， reclamation of wetland has still occurred.
Zhang Fengjiang， an official of Naolihe Nature Reserve in northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province， once admitted in an interview with China Economic Weekly that stopping farmers from reclaiming wetland is “a very challenging job.” He said that every spring， farmers and reserve administrators play a tug of war. Some farmers surreptitiously plow and sow seeds in the wetlands， usually at night. While reserve administrators make efforts to destroy any seedlings they find， farmers often return and sow seeds again and again. Currently， there is no national law on wetland protection. Zhang said that the absence of such a law makes it difficult for reserve administrators to hold perpetrators liable.
Although 18 out of 34 provinces in China had issued local regulations for wetland protection as of November 2013， it will be difficult to enforce them due to the lack of national laws， wrote Chen Yue， a professor with Kunming-based Southwest Forestry University， in a paper published in January 2014.
The lack of a national law poses great challenges to “effectively regulate the behavior of and relationships between the various stakeholders，” Chen wrote.
On March 28， 2013， the State Administration of Forestry （SAF） adopted national rules on wetland protection titled the Management Rules on Wetland Protection.
Ma Guangren， Director General of the SAF’s Office of Wetland Conservation and Management， said the management rules regulate the forestry sector， yet it has little binding power over other sectors. As wetland protection calls for the concerted efforts of many sectors， Ma thought a national law will help overcome conflicts of interests between various sectors.
Moreover， Zhang pointed out that although local residents’ development activities were restricted after wetland reserves were set up， some of them were not properly compensated for their loss. “This has led to a lack of cooperation on the part of villagers，” he said.
In 2010， China began a trial scheme that offered ecological benefit compensation to residents living near wetlands. A state-level fund has been set up for this purpose.
On January 13， 2014， Zhang Yongli， Vice Minister of the SAF， said that wetland protection should be made a performance indicator for Party and government officials， and the government should actively promote the building of a wetland ecological compensation system.
Lying 5 km away from the famous West Lake， the wetland park covers an area of 10 square km， 70 percent of which is made up of water bodies， such as fish ponds， rivers， and lakes.
The park boasts both natural beauty and places of historical interest. Four to five thousand years ago， the area was low-lying land inundated in summer by water from nearby Tianmu Mountain. More than 1，000 years ago， a town was formed.
Some literati and hermits used to reside in the area， leaving behind poems and sculptures testifying to their talent. For centuries， farmers have fed fish and silkworms and grown vegetables and teas in the vicinity.
In recent decades， urbanization in the area has led to a dwindling of the wetland area.
Local government took measures to restore the wetland. The area was designed into a wetland park. Part of it features activities that are part and parcel of daily life in a water village， such as silkworm feeding and silk production. In May 2005， the park was opened to the public. A daily limit of 3，000 visitors has been imposed to protect the environment.
Wetland accounts for 10.9 percent of Zhejiang’s total area. In December 2014， the province published a list of 32 important wetland parks and reserves in the province. It set a goal of putting 60 percent of its natural wetlands under protection by the year 2017.
China is ranked fourth in the world in wetland surface area， with 10 percent of the world’s wetland areas， according to World Wildlife Fund for Nature （WWF）.
Wetlands are essential for maintaining biodiversity， controlling floods and removing pollutants， as well as rice and fish production， transport， and hydropower generation.
Wetland covers 5.58 percent of China’s total land area， half of which is located in the Tibet and Inner Mongolia autonomous regions， and in the provinces of Qinghai and Heilongjiang， according to the second nationwide wetland resource investigation conducted from 2009 to 2013， the results of which were published in January 2014.
Between 2004 and 2013， the country’s wetlands declined by 8.82 percent， with natural wetland area accounting for 87.08 percent of the total wetland area， down by 9.33 percent， the national study revealed. Enhanced protection efforts
In the 1970s， China’s first wetland nature reserve was created. China joined the International Convention on Wetlands in 1992 and designated seven wetland sites as Wetlands of International Importance.
In 2000， a National Wetland Conservation Action Plan for China was released， which spelled out guidelines for the conservation and wise use of wetlands in the future.
China’s leadership is committed to promoting ecological progress and sustainable development. Wetland conservation and management have been listed on the national agenda.
Now more wetland areas are under protection. As of the end of 2013， there had been 577 wetland nature reserves and 468 wetland parks in China， found the Second National Wetland Resources Inventory. The survey showed that between 2004 and 2013， wetland areas under protection increased from 30.49 percent to 43.51 percent.
The government has also launched a project to restore farmland to wetland. In northeast China’s Jilin Province， many wetlands dried up because of water shortage， which were then reclaimed by farmers to cultivate crops. In 2013， the province started the farmland-back-to-wetland project. Under the project， 1，650 hectares of farmland near Xinlong Reservoir in Baicheng have been restored into wetland. The reservoir dried up years ago， so canals and ditches were dug to channel water from nearby rivers and lakes into the reservoir and surrounding areas.
Lan Hongliang， head of the Forestry Department of Jilin， said that local residents were given a subsidy to resettle into new life and to buy fish hatchlings and fishing tools in an interview with Jilin TV station.
Some individuals have also voluntarily engaged in wetland protection. Wang Jianmin， a middle-aged photographer in Tianjin Municipality， is one of them. For more than two decades， he has taken pictures of wetlands and informed local residents of the importance of wetland and bird protection. Wang said that he has a dream to see the homeland as it was when he was a child.
Calls for a national law
Despite the government’s conservation efforts， reclamation of wetland has still occurred.
Zhang Fengjiang， an official of Naolihe Nature Reserve in northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province， once admitted in an interview with China Economic Weekly that stopping farmers from reclaiming wetland is “a very challenging job.” He said that every spring， farmers and reserve administrators play a tug of war. Some farmers surreptitiously plow and sow seeds in the wetlands， usually at night. While reserve administrators make efforts to destroy any seedlings they find， farmers often return and sow seeds again and again. Currently， there is no national law on wetland protection. Zhang said that the absence of such a law makes it difficult for reserve administrators to hold perpetrators liable.
Although 18 out of 34 provinces in China had issued local regulations for wetland protection as of November 2013， it will be difficult to enforce them due to the lack of national laws， wrote Chen Yue， a professor with Kunming-based Southwest Forestry University， in a paper published in January 2014.
The lack of a national law poses great challenges to “effectively regulate the behavior of and relationships between the various stakeholders，” Chen wrote.
On March 28， 2013， the State Administration of Forestry （SAF） adopted national rules on wetland protection titled the Management Rules on Wetland Protection.
Ma Guangren， Director General of the SAF’s Office of Wetland Conservation and Management， said the management rules regulate the forestry sector， yet it has little binding power over other sectors. As wetland protection calls for the concerted efforts of many sectors， Ma thought a national law will help overcome conflicts of interests between various sectors.
Moreover， Zhang pointed out that although local residents’ development activities were restricted after wetland reserves were set up， some of them were not properly compensated for their loss. “This has led to a lack of cooperation on the part of villagers，” he said.
In 2010， China began a trial scheme that offered ecological benefit compensation to residents living near wetlands. A state-level fund has been set up for this purpose.
On January 13， 2014， Zhang Yongli， Vice Minister of the SAF， said that wetland protection should be made a performance indicator for Party and government officials， and the government should actively promote the building of a wetland ecological compensation system.