Birds gather in the morning fog at the Chenhu Wetland Nature Reserve in Wuhan, Hubei province. WEI BIN/FOR CHINA DAILY
Editor's note: This year marks the 20th anniversary of President Xi Jinping's proposal of the concept that "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets". To mark the occasion, China Daily is publishing a series of stories on how resources such as mountains, rivers, lakes, forests and farms are being transformed into priceless gifts.
As the early morning sun pierces the mist on Erhai Lake in Southwest China's Yunnan province, Yan Bingqi is already knee-deep in his waders, plucking dead plants from the water.
This is the daily routine for the 59-year-old, who is one of hundreds of cleaners on China's second-highest plateau lake.
Yan said that when he joined the salvage team in 2015, each team member had to collect as much as a metric ton of debris from the water daily. That's how polluted it had gotten.
"Now, with significant changes taking place in Erhai Lake, we only salvage around 50 kilograms daily," he said.
Before 2015, the lake had experienced severe pollution due to rapid, unregulated development in agriculture, urbanization and tourism.
A major shift in policy came after a visit to the area by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2015, resulting in a comprehensive, multiyear restoration effort for the vital drinking water source and tourist attraction.
Yan said greater environmental awareness has been promoted to those living near the lake, with every household now connected to a sewage network for centralized treatment and fishermen strictly following ecological fishing schedules.
Birds gather in the morning fog at the Chenhu Wetland Nature Reserve in Wuhan, Hubei province. WEI BIN/FOR CHINA DAILY
As a proud local, Yan has witnessed the improvements over the past decade, noting that the acuminate water lilies that now grow in Erhai Lake are a physical sign of the lake's health. Acuminate water lilies, or Ottelia acuminata, are delicate aquatic plants that famously only grow in high-quality water.
Erhai's water quality has been maintained at "excellent" or "good" levels over the past few years, according to publicized announcements.
"My ancestors and I have always lived beside Erhai Lake, and it has nurtured us for centuries," Yan said, adding that the enhanced water quality has also boosted tourism. His family's small shop has increased its sales tenfold from the previous 50 yuan ($7) a day.
Back in the 1980s, overexploitation and inadequate conservation efforts led to severe lakebed erosion and aggravated watershed pollution in Erhai Lake, causing a rapid decline in water quality.
The region was hit by two massive blue-green algal blooms in 1996 and 2003, during which the lake's surface transformed into a sickly green layer, making it one of China's most polluted lakes at the time.
In 2006, the State Council, China's Cabinet, approved a major national water pollution control project targeting Erhai Lake's restoration, whose subsequent efforts gradually improved the water quality. However, new challenges arose in 2011 when the prefecture designated tourism as a pillar industry, allowing outside investors to lease local residential land for guesthouse construction. The unregulated development became a major pollution source, causing another algal bloom two years later.
During President Xi's 2015 inspection tour of Yunnan, he stressed the ecological protection of the lake and called for the protection of the lake's natural beauty forever.
In response to Xi's call, the local government launched a series of ecological projects to prevent and control pollution and restore the environment of Erhai Lake.
These involved the launch of a rectification plan for the hospitality sector in Erhai Lake in 2017, with the shutdown of nearly 2,000 guesthouses and restaurants in the designated core protection area.
Despite the short-term reduction in economic activity at the time, especially in terms of tourism, the long-term ecological restoration would pay off for all stakeholders in the end.
Tourists take pictures in front of Longkan Pier at Erhai Lake in Dali, Yunnan province, in August. LIANG JIAJU/FOR CHINA DAILY
By mid-2018, a preliminary basin-wide domestic sewage treatment network had been established, encompassing 20 wastewater treatment plants, a 5,743-kilometer sewage collection network and 149,000 septic tanks. Since its operation, it has treated over 400 million cubic meters of domestic sewage, reducing pollutant loads by 1,110 tons of total phosphorus, 8,032 tons of total nitrogen, 71,937 tons of chemical oxygen demand and 5,719 tons of ammonia nitrogen.
To address agricultural pollution, the area implemented a ban on the sale and use of nitrogen-phosphorus fertilizers and high-toxicity pesticides, as well as the cultivation of water-intensive, fertilizer-heavy crops like garlic.
Instead, the focus shifted to promoting organic fertilizer substitution, green pest control, eco-friendly planting practices and standardized livestock farming. As a result, the cultivation of water-intensive, fertilizer-heavy crops has been reduced by 8,240 hectares, and 32,640 hectares of high-standard farmland have been developed.
High-standard farmland is arable land that has been comprehensively engineered and equipped with modern infrastructure to ensure high and stable yields, regardless of moderate natural disasters.
A 129-kilometer ecological corridor, or buffer zone, has been built around Erhai Lake forming a physical green barrier around its perimeter.
This buffer zone, complete with artificial wetlands, acts as a natural filter, further reducing pollutants before they enter the main body of the lake.
In order to achieve this, 1,806 households of 7,270 people who resided within 15 meters of the lakeshore had to be relocated.
Xu Xiao, a local resident and guesthouse operator in Wenbi village on the eastern shore of Erhai Lake, said that the ecological corridor has become a social media sensation in itself, attracting large crowds of tourists.
"The true transformation of Wenbi village began five years ago, evolving from an impoverished fishing hamlet into a magnet for investors nationwide. Notably, this rapid development coincided precisely with the post-environmental remediation period," Xu said, adding that his guesthouse, which opened in August last year, has just recovered its initial investment and is now on track to generate a profit.
Tourists ride bicycles along the ecological corridor beside Erhai Lake in April. LIU LIANFEN/XINHUA
Tourism town
Some 1,500 km away in Wuhan, Hubei province, a tourism town opened in November has similarly capitalized on ecological restoration.
The Chenhu International Town project, which began construction early this year, is located in Caidian district, and is strategically positioned beside the Chenhu wetland.
The Chenhu wetland, designated as an internationally important wetland in 2013, plays a crucial role in flood storage and regulation, species conservation and regional climate adjustment.
Back in the 1960s, however, due to an underdeveloped economic situation, land reclamation and lake filling plagued the region, shrinking the wetland area by about two-thirds, said Tan Wenzhuo, a worker from the Chenhu Wetland Nature Reserve.
Since 2019, systematic, large-scale restoration efforts have been undertaken at the reserve, encompassing a series of measures such as ridge removal, waterway dredging, native vegetation planting and bird habitat enhancement, Tan said.
The wetland area in the reserve now spans 8,133 hectares, with more than 70 percent being natural wetland. Recent monitoring has indicated increasing trends in both the diversity and amount of animals in the area. As of the end of last year, 585 animal species were recorded, including 301 bird species, Tan said.
Taking advantage of the outcomes of wetland restoration, the Chenhu International Town project has the overarching goal of transforming ecological resource advantages into green development benefits.
"The planning, design and construction of the project prioritizes ecological and cultural protection," said Cai Xiaofei, who led the construction work.
Cai said an origami-inspired bird-shaped pavilion designed to seamlessly integrate with wetland birdwatching, along with a C-shaped building that hugs the mountain terrain to form an ecological buffer zone, achieves harmonious coexistence between architecture and nature.
A smart monitoring system enables visitors to engage in real-time observation of rare species such as the Oriental storks and Dalmatian pelicans without disturbing them, Cai added.
"Leveraging its unique wetland ecological features and diverse cultural tourism offerings, the town is projected to attract one to two million visitors every year," he said, adding that part of the revenue will be used for wetland conservation and migratory bird habitat enhancement.
The project is expected to create more than 100 jobs, with priority given to hiring local residents, he said.
Because of the project, Zhang Ziling, 23, who previously worked outside the area as a calligraphy teacher, has returned to work locally. "The job offers a shorter commute, a more stable salary and greater career advancement opportunities," Zhang said.
Source: Chinadaily