Wetlands in crisis

Environment and birds key to development of livelihoods

A failed 1970s program to convert swathes of northern China's swampland into farmland has proved a boon for one of the country's vulnerable bird species.

Vast expanses of wetlands in the Xinqing district of Yichun in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, once marked for development into agriculture, remain one of the most important habitats for hooded cranes in the country.

With less than 10,000 of the rare cranes left, they are listed as vulnerable on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's red list.

The marshlands of Heilongjiang have provided a crucial winter haven for the bird's gradual recovery, says Liu Baocai, director of the Xinqing Hooded Crane National Nature Reserve Management Bureau.

"We feel very lucky. If the wetlands had been converted into agriculture, it would no longer be home to the birds," he said.

Disappearing landscapes

It's one of many anecdotes in Liu's repertoire that stress the significance of wetland protection against continuing ecological threats.

In the past decade, 8.82 percent of the nation's wetlands have disappeared or converted to farmland or infrastructure.

Sometimes referred to as the "Kidneys of the Earth," wetlands play a crucial role in helping preserve and filter natural water resources while offering a sanctuary for migrating birds and many other species. However, locals once thought the wetlands were useless.

In the 1960s they drained them to grow crops. Farm yields were low and the practice was eventually abandoned, but not before inflicting huge damage to the wetland ecology.

Also home to the world's largest virgin forest of red pines, forestry was once a pillar industry for the local economy, acting as a main source of revenue and employment. In order to maximize lumber output, locals again turned to the wetlands in the 1990s, this time to grow pine trees in the wetlands.

Once more they ended in failure. The trees could not root properly and were easily toppled by strong winds.

The consequences of both failed attempts to industrialize the wetlands are still seen today through regional desertification, frequent flooding, droughts and forest fires.

"It was foolish from today's perspective. However, people had no choice then but to exploit the wetlands for subsistence," said Zhuo Lei, vice director of the Meixi Forestry Bureau of Yichun.

Public attitudes changing

Wang Jiapeng, a forestry official in Meixi district of Yichun, says people rarely attach as much significance to wetlands as they do to forests. But when it comes balancing the local environment, wetlands play an equally important role.

Public attitudes are gradually changing, and beginning to recognize the importance of wetlands. The push by residents has spurred local government efforts to protect environment through bans on logging, fishing, and the closure of surrounding factories.

In order to better protect forests in the local area, the Yichun government has shut down or merged 55 wood farms and relocated 13,127 households consisting of 30,025 residents since 2009. In Meixin district, more than 400 households have had to leave the wood farms where in some cases, they had lived for half a century.

While these relocation efforts may aid wetland protection, they may also cause troubles to local residents' lives.

Local officials say there has been a recent increase in complaints lodged against the protection campaigns from local residents, who claim they are being forced to change their traditional lifestyles.

Before 2009, some 70 to 80 percent of the local economy relied on forestry, according to a local government estimate.

After forbidding commercial deforestation in the area in April 2014, unemployment has become a severe problem.

A middle-aged woman, surnamed Shao, lost her job due to the conservation efforts and now makes a living by picking fungus. "Living has become a problem for us. The price of fungus has kept going down this year and I have no idea what to do next year."

Locals say remuneration for those affected by the protection campaigns is necessary. However, such a scheme has not yet been established.

Without a compensation system in place there have been ongoing attempts to convert the wetlands to agricultural lands as incomes remain low in the underdeveloped region.

Meanwhile, experts say central and local government support for scientific development and tourism as well as animal husbandry could speed up the economic restructuring in these regions.

Nationwide problems

The damage to the wetlands in Heilongjiang is not unique. The country still has a long way to go in protecting wetlands nationwide.

In May 2014, eight villagers from Zhaojiacheng village in Tianjin were detained for disturbing social order after they protested to the local government over a wetland area in Qilihai National Wetland Park, which had been damaged by excavation work.

The villagers went to protest in front of government buildings in February 2014 and asked why the authorities allowed a company to excavate the wetlands, the Beijing Times reported. They also demanded punishments for the officials in charge of this project. However, even after their arrest, no explanation from the authorities has been given.

Data from the State Forestry Administration reveals China has a total of 53.6 million hectares of wetlands, accounting for more than 5 percent of the country's total land.

The Chinese leadership has been emphasizing ecological protection, demanding increases in the size of forests, lakes and wetlands. China boasts 577 nature reserves and 468 wetland parks. The push for preservation has gone as far as becoming part of the criteria for performance assessment of local government officials in some regions.

Protection efforts are facing renewed challenges, however, as locals, seeing rising incomes in the rest of the country, seek to cultivate the wetlands once more.