Water

Pilot and Demonstration Activities
Sustainable Wetland Planning and Management in Jiangsu Yancheng Wetlands

Jiangsu province, with a coast line of 1,040 kilometers (km), lies in the east of the People’s Republic of China. Its total wetlands area—about 4 million hectares (ha) or 39% of Jiangsu’s total area— is one of the biggest coastal wetlands in Asia. Roughly 70% of these coastal wetlands are located in Yancheng municipality in northern Jiangsu. While relatively underdeveloped, Yancheng has a population of 8.1 million and is the province’s second largest urban center.

Yancheng is home to two important biodiversity reserves: the National Nature Reserve for Rare Birds (YNNRB) and the Dafeng Milu (David’s Deer) National Nature Reserve (DMNNR), both listed in the Ramsar Convention and in the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization’s World Network of Biosphere Reserves. These wetlands provide important ecosystem services. Local livelihoods are sustained through the capture and culture of marine and estuarine plants (e.g., reeds), and fish species. Wetland plants slow the flow of rivers and the mudflats absorb wave energy from the sea, thereby controlling coastal erosion. The wetlands also improve water quality by absorbing some of Yancheng municipality’s household and industrial wastes.

Despite their local, national, and global significance, Yancheng’s wetlands face serious threats— land reclamation and conversion, roads and dikes constructions, introduction of alien plant and animal species, and increasing pollution. These threats have significantly affected the wetlands’ ecology and hydrology.

Given the diversity of the wetlands’ habitats and users, a wetlands planning and management system that engages stakeholders in a collaborative process, allowing them to define problems and possible solutions, would be very useful. Unfortunately, there are several barriers to such a system, including

• Lack of specific regulations to balance wetlands conservation with other conflicting activities, e.g. agriculture, industry, and urban development
• Lack of recognition of ecosystem services
• Insufficient financial resources to support wetlands conservation
• Inadequate technical guidance and services for ecotourism development
• Lack of enforcement of environmental laws at the local level
• Lack of cooperation between responsible agencies and the lack of coordinated institutional arrangements

The Jiangsu provincial and Yancheng municipal governments are highly aware of these problems, and understand the need to address them. They have discussed the issues of better coordination of wetlands functions among agencies at different government levels, integrated management of wetlands, biodiversity protection and conservation, and watershed management. They have also emphasized improved alternative livelihood options to resource users an integral part of the wetlands protection strategy.

This PDA will support a biodiversity research study that aims to understand the linkages between agriculture and fisheries, which is critical for achieving both developmental and conservation goals in the wetlands.

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This PDA aims to analyze agriculture and aquaculture in the Jiangsu, Yancheng Wetlands as the two key livelihood activities that impact on the wetland and other local livelihoods. The analysis will focus on possible scenarios or options for integrated management and will contribute to a strategic planning process that aims to balance biodiversity conservation and poverty reduction/development objectives. The analysis will also provide a basis for:

• Supporting ADB’s ongoing dialogue with the Government of China on the relationships between national agriculture, aquaculture, development, and wetland management objectives and policies in the country
• Contributing to the ongoing efforts of the Ramsar Convention to better understand agriculture-wetlands-poverty reduction linkages and tradeoffs, with a view to providing further guidance to contracting parties on how such interactions can be managed

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• Proposal (February 2008) [PDF]