China’s wetlands remedy for Pakistan’s climatic crisis
by Yasir Habib Khan
ISLAMABAD, May 20 (Gwadar Pro) - Notwithstanding the fact that China and Pakistan are deepening and diversifying numerous forms of collaborations to forge ahead, a very crucial area is still underexplored so far. It is about China’s “network of wetlands” dubbed as ultimate cure to climatic imbalances and environmental hazardousness which have been taking a heavy toll on Pakistan against rampant flash floods, ecosystem jeopardy, water pollution & depletion, biodiversity disaster and flora & fauna decline.
In the absence of wetlands, known as kidney of earth as they naturally detoxify the underground water making it fit for human consumption and watering of crops, Pakistan languishes as victim of water pollution. Heavy floods are other havocs that have impacted the agriculture sector, with damages to crops, livestock, fisheries and poultry.
After 2011 flood, minimum reconstruction cost amounts to a total of Rs. 239 billion ($ 2,747 million). Since Pakistan does not have wetland system, so tons of flood water is never stored and is flushed out into ocean. Under the appalling situation, lands that are already suffering water stress dilemma, fail to get recharged and this leads to gradual dip to underground water table. Since wetlands are the best way for ecological conservations, Pakistan is fast losing its treasure of biodiversity, species of birds, animal and others.
It is fortunate that Pakistan has China as its all-weather friend which ranks first in Asia and fourth in the world in terms of wetland area, with a total of more than 800 million mu (53.3 million hectares).Such ecological conservations that changed China’s ecosystem destiny have not come with finger-snapping. The vision, political will and execution plan that China put into play with arduousness may become stepping stones for Pakistan.
For instance, Pakistan has taken some steps to fix the climatic challenges. On December 11, 2020 Ministry of Climate Change (MoCC), Federal Flood Commission (FFC) under the Ministry of Water Resources, and WWF-Pakistan jointly launched a programme titled ‘Recharge Pakistan: Building Pakistan’s Resilience to Climate Change through Ecosystem-Based Adaptation for Integrated Flood Risk Management’ with a 30-year vision.
It aims to increase water storage and recharge through wetlands, floodplains and hill-torrents management; build resilience of vulnerable communities through climate-adapted, community-based natural resource management, livelihoods and forge a paradigm shift in Pakistan’s climate change adaptation and flood risk management approaches.
For materializing government’s “Recharge Initiative” through wetlands, Pakistan desperately needs top-notch technology, advanced paraphernalia and innovative infrastructure. It also requires teams of prolific experts to bring the initiative to fruition. On the basis of business models, these proposed wetlands have to be developed in a way to make them cost-effective by turning them revenue producing sources and employment generation points. Meanwhile relevant rules and regulations are to be enacted to keep mega activity unhurt and smooth.
In the perspective of practical epitome for launching successful wetland initiatives, China’s below-mentioned endeavors are beacon of light for Pakistan. Chinese President Xi Jinping has attached great importance to wetland conservation. In March 2020, Xi inspected the Xixi National Wetland Park in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. "Water is the soul of wetland, and the beauty of natural ecology is the most intrinsic and important beauty of Xixi wetland," he said. With a total area of 11.5 square kilometers, the Xixi National Wetland Park is the first national wetland park in the country.
During 2016-2020, China's wetland area increased by more than 200,000 hectares, and the protection rate has been raised above 50 percent. A total of 201 national wetland parks have been newly built in the period, raising the total to 899, official data showed.
China has also established a national wetland protection system for tiered management of wetlands nationwide. A number of provinces have unveiled plans on wetland protection. For example, Henan Province will build 27 new wetland parks in an effort to protect and restore the wetlands in the province, the provincial forestry bureau announced recently.
In January 2021, a draft law on wetland protection was submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, for first review. The legislation on wetland protection will help with the establishment of a complete legal system to guarantee wetland protection, said Gao Hucheng, chairman of the NPC Environmental Protection and Resources Conservation Committee.
Since Pakistan is struggling to promote tourism, Chinese-styled wetlands are new source of motivations as they have emerged as awesome tourist points. With such activity, local people got a fresh avenue for jobs which helped them to get rid of poverty.
While protecting the wetland ecology, China has also developed tourism through the appropriate use of wetlands, creating jobs and bringing prosperity to local residents.
Nearly 10,000 villagers living near the Longji terraced fields national wetland park in Longsheng county, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, were lifted out of poverty thanks to revenues from the park and subsidies from the local government.
China's wetland parks contributed 53.6 billion yuan ($8.21 billion) to regional economic growth and directly created 47,000 new jobs, according to the National Forestry and Grassland Administration (NFGA). In 2019, China's national wetland parks received 385 million visitors.
Javed Iqbal, former Director General of Punjab Environment Protection Department applauded China’s system of wetlands. He argued that given Pak-China synergic liaison in almost every sector, it is direly needed to work diligently on “missing segment of cooperation” for materialization of the establishment of wetlands in the length and breadth of the country.
“At one time, people believed wetlands were useless, and they were drained for development. But we now realize that wetlands are a valuable and crucial part of the world's ecosystem,” he added and called upon Pakistan government to seek inspiration from Chinese’s strategies on wetland initiative.
“Wetlands are not just lovely to look at. They also protect us against floods. Like your car's brakes, wetlands halt the velocity of floodwaters and help to disperse the excess water. Undisturbed wetlands can store up to 60 days of floodwater Wetlands can also act as a buffer against colder temperatures. As farmland has replaced wetlands, crops have become more susceptible to frost,” he added.
Environment Rafay Aalam said that because wetlands slow the flow of water down in case of flash floods, they are also able to filtrate the water. Without that momentum, the water travels around plants and vegetation more slowly. “As a result, any suspended sediment drops out of the flow. This natural cleansing helps to keep pollution, toxins and nutrients out of the water system. Water overloaded with nutrients is susceptible to algae bloom, which can be very destructive to plant and animal life,” he added.
Terming Chinese Wetland projects, he said abundant vegetation and shallow water levels in wetlands play host for many plant and animal species. “What types of animals thrive in a wetland depends on the type of wetland, but can include muskrats, beavers, moose, raccoons, bobcats, swamp rabbits, and white-tailed deer. Wetland birds include bald eagles, ospreys, hawks, egrets, herons and kingfishers. Some of the more familiar fish and shellfish that depend on wetlands for survival include flounder, trout, striped bass, shrimp, oysters, clams, and blue and Dungeness crabs. And many species of birds rely on wetlands for breeding or nesting grounds, including ducks, geese, woodpeckers, hawks and wading birds.
In 2021, China released a comprehensive 15-year plan for ecological protection and recovery work, setting a target to improve the country's environment and achieve the goal of building a "Beautiful China" by 2035.
In the next 15 years, according to the plan released by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Natural Resources, China will guarantee that 60 percent of its wetlands will be under protection. However, there are still some challenges as the quality of its ecological systems still needs to be improved, said Wu Xiao, director of the NDRC's department in charge of agriculture and rural economy. Under the plan, nine major projects on ecological protection will be promoted in the next 15 years, covering many parts of the country, including the Yangtze River, the Yellow River, the forest area in northeast China, and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. According to the plan, China will have at least 18 percent of the country's territorial land as natural reserve by 2035 via the establishment of a natural reserve protection mechanism, with national parks as a crucial part.
