China Xiaokang Network Exclusive article
Yuan Shuai, reporter of "Xiaokang" China Xiaokang Network
The theme of World Migratory Bird Day 2023 is "Water: sustaining bird life". Many water bodies and aquatic ecosystems around the world are increasingly under threat, as are the migratory birds that depend on them.
Photography / Haruko
World Migratory Bird Day aims to raise awareness of migratory birds and issues related to their conservation. The day highlights the importance of international cooperation and encourages national and local action to protect migratory birds. Unlike other conservation anniversaries, World Migratory Bird Day is held twice a year, on the second Saturday in May and October, reflecting the cyclical nature of bird migrations and the different peak periods of migration in the northern and southern hemispheres. The theme of World Migratory Bird Day 2023 is "Water: Sustaining Bird Life" to highlight the importance of water for migratory birds.
The World Migratory Bird Day 2023 global promotional poster, produced by Nicaraguan artist Augusto Silva, showcases 12 species of migratory waterbirds: the African hardtail duck and the curly-feathered pelican remind people that many species need wetlands and open waters for migration, wintering and breeding; Some birds require specific types of water habitat, such as the tidal flats that spoon-billed sandpipers rely on for migration and winter, mangroves and other coastal areas beloved by blue emeralds, and seasonal flooding areas that red-necked cranes typically choose to nest; The food of the house swallow - insects, the nectar plants frequented by the brown hummingbird, the grasslands inhabited by the American finches and the river forests inhabited by the dove are also inseparable from water; Arctic puffins and drifting albatrosses represent the oceans, which are increasingly polluted by chemicals and plastic waste; The osprey implies that when humans work together to protect the planet, the decline in bird numbers can be reversed.
Wetlands, rivers, lakes, streams, swamps and ponds are all important places for migratory birds to feed, drink or nest, as well as to rest and recharge their energy on long journeys. Unfortunately, many of these water bodies and aquatic ecosystems around the world are under increasing threat due to increasing human demand for water, as well as human-caused pollution and climate change, as are the migratory birds that depend on them.
The construction of the Poyang Lake gate has caused controversy
The controversy over the construction of the Poyang Lake gate has set off another upsurge. In January this year, the environmental impact assessment report of the construction project was sent to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment for approval, which is the last hurdle before the construction of the construction project begins. The construction site of the Poyang Lake Water Conservancy Hub Project is located about 27 kilometers into the mouth of the Yangtze River of Poyang Lake, just at the throat of the exchange between Poyang Lake and the main stream of the Yangtze River. For this reason, the project has been attracting national and even global attention since it was moved around 2000, and has been dubbed "one of the most controversial construction projects" by the domestic environmental protection circles. The core issue of the dispute is "whether the project should be built", not "how the project should be built".
In this regard, Yang Xiaohong, director of the research office of the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (hereinafter referred to as the Green Society), said that Poyang Lake is currently the largest freshwater lake in the Yangtze River and one of the most important large-scale Tongjiang lakes in the Yangtze River, and its ecological geographical location is highly sensitive. The Poyang Lake Water Conservancy Hub Project connects rivers and lakes during the flood season from April to August every year, regulates the dry period from September to March of the following year, and is in the state of control gate for 7 months of the year, and its project undoubtedly dismemberes the complete ecosystem of the Yangtze River and Poyang Lake waters. The engineering plan will have irreversible or uncertain effects on the water quality, water temperature, flow rate, aquatic biological diversity, many wintering water birds, plants and vegetation of Poyang Lake, etc., and the connectivity of rivers and lakes will be blocked. At the same time, the ecological variables caused by engineering construction are also complex, and the comprehensive effect research on the aquatic environment, major rare species and changes in the relationship between rivers and lakes involved in the environmental impact assessment of engineering construction is still very weak, which is insufficient to conclude that "the ecological impact of engineering construction is small" and "the overall ecological impact risk is controllable".
Take the demonstration of the fish passage going up and down the lock dam as an example. The EIA report demonstrates that it is mostly based on data models and physical models, and there is no successful precedent for building a fish passage for the four large juvenile fish in China. The inlet and outlet elevations of the fish passage through the lock and dam range from 3~6 meters, which induces the probability of fish crossing the gate is small, and the adult body falls in the air after crossing the lock and collides with the water body and is easily injured. The finless porpoise, which is dozens of times larger than conventional fish, is even more difficult to pass through the fish channel, and the construction of the gate will directly affect the survival of more than 100 finless porpoise populations within tens of kilometers before and after the gate site. What's more, the time limit for communication between Poyang Lake and the free water bodies of the main stream of the Yangtze River is limited, and the biomass exchanged is far more than a few fish such as the four large fish of the migratory species of rivers and lakes, the knife fish and anchovies listed in the EIA impact report.
In addition, scientists represented by Professor Zhou Jianjun of Tsinghua University believe through professional demonstration that the long-term autumn drought phenomenon in Poyang Lake in recent years has not led to a change in the basic law of Poyang Lake's water conditions, and Poyang Lake, as a lake hydrological attribute of the Yangtze River with water-passing, throughput and seasonal characteristics, has not substantially changed due to autumn drought, and Poyang Lake water conservancy projects should not be built, while the construction of locks will completely change the natural attributes and unique wetland environment of Poyang Lake. "In response to the problems of 'long-term autumn drought' and 'insufficient water resources to support long-term development' in Poyang Lake raised by Jiangxi Province, innovative solutions should be sought in the overall development strategy of the national construction of ecological civilization and the overall positioning of 'conservation, protection and natural restoration first' in the entire Yangtze River basin, so as to interfere with natural habitats as little as possible, rather than creating more problems and great ecological risks through simple damming." Yang Xiaohong told the "Xiaokang" magazine and China Xiaokang Network reporter.
According to Yang Xiaohong, the Poyang Lake construction hub project involves many ecologically sensitive areas in the Poyang Lake area and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, which affects the whole body, and the current environmental impact assessment report of the construction project has insufficient design for estimating the ecological impact of the project and designing remedial measures. The project involves a total of 19 national nature reserves of various types in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, including 13 national aquatic germplasm resources reserves involving the protection of key fish in the Yangtze River. 16 provincial nature reserves of various types; There are 6 county-level nature reserves. Among them, there are 102 saucer lakes in the lake area that have a direct impact on the migration of migratory birds, accounting for 22% of the total lake area. "There is hardly any construction project that can have such a profound impact on the natural ecological protection of the mainland on such a large scale, so many habitats and species, and it is basically difficult to systematically sort out all aspects of its ecological impact in the short term, let alone accurately propose systematic and comprehensive countermeasures for the disturbances or adverse effects caused by the construction of the project." Starting construction under the premise of insufficient demonstration is easy to gain more than it is worth the loss. ”
In addition, Yang Xiaohong said that considering that the Yangtze River Protection Law, which came into effect in 2021, requires that the ecological flow of the main stream of the Yangtze River, important tributaries, important lakes and other control sections be included in the daily scheduling, the water volume and water conditions of the upper reaches of Poyang Lake and the main stream of the Yangtze River are within the scope of this requirement. After the implementation of this work, it will have a profound impact on the hydrological changes of Poyang Lake and the protection and development of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the entire basin of the Yangtze River. The need to build locks on Poyang Lake will be greatly reduced.
"The Yangtze River is the mother river of the Chinese nation with abundant water sources, many water systems, and many river basins, giving birth to such a rich and colorful ecosystem and cultural culture. If the connection between the rivers and lakes of the largest freshwater lake in the Yangtze River is cut off, the few remaining large lakes such as Dongting Lake, Taihu Lake and Chaohu Lake in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River will also follow this idea to hoard and cut off water to meet the needs of development, so that even the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River will become a straight sewage ditch, losing its ecological functions such as water supply, biological resource supply, and pollution storage, which is undoubtedly a great tragedy. Yang Xiaohong said.
Focus of attention The construction site of the Poyang Lake Water Conservancy Hub Project is located about 27 kilometers into the mouth of the Yangtze River of Poyang Lake, just at the throat of the exchange between Poyang Lake and the main stream of the Yangtze River. For this reason, the project has been attracting national and global attention since it was moved around 2000. Photography / Haruko
The Marine Environmental Protection Law needs to be improved
Life originated in the ocean, there are about 670 species of marine birds around the world that use the ocean as the living environment, and marine life as all food or main food, and 183 species of seabirds have been recorded on the mainland, such as red-throated loons, black-footed albatrosses, egrets, seagulls and so on. As early as 2018, the enforcement inspection team of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress went to a number of provinces to carry out the enforcement inspection of the Marine Environmental Protection Law, and entrusted the Standing Committees of the People's Congress of Shanghai, Jiangsu and Guangxi to inspect the implementation of the Marine Environmental Protection Law in their administrative regions. The inspection report shows that "at present, the pollution of local seas near the mainland is relatively serious, and the situation of marine ecological environment is still grim." About one-tenth of the country's bays are seriously polluted, the natural coastline retention rate of the mainland is less than 40%, about 42% of the coastal zone is overloaded with resources and environment, the problem of destruction and degradation of mangroves, coral reefs, coastal wetlands and other ecosystems in some areas is relatively serious, ecological disasters such as red tides and green tides occur frequently, and environmental risks such as oil spills and leakage of dangerous chemicals continue to increase."
In this regard, Yang Honglan of the Political Research Office of the Green Society analyzed that although there are reasons for the emergence of this problem, although there are reasons for the loose and soft law enforcement supervision of relevant administrative departments, the lack of supervision from social forces for marine pollution and marine ecological environment damage is also one of the important reasons, and the current framework of the Marine Environmental Protection Law cannot meet the actual needs of protecting the marine environment.
Yang Honglan said that the second paragraph of Article 89 of the current Marine Environmental Protection Law stipulates: "Where major losses are caused to the state by damaging marine ecology, marine aquatic resources or marine protected areas, the department exercising the right to supervise and manage the marine environment in accordance with the provisions of this Law shall claim damages on behalf of the state against the person responsible." "This article expressly confers the right to claim compensation for damage to marine natural resources and the ecological environment to the department exercising the right to supervise and manage the marine environment in accordance with the law. The Supreme People's Court previously promulgated and implemented the Provisions on Several Issues Concerning the Trial of Cases Involving Compensation for Damages to Marine Natural Resources and the Ecological Environment (Fa Shi [2017] No. 23), which resulted in litigation involving marine ecological and environmental damage compensation in judicial practice being only carried out by the marine environment supervision and management department as the main body, and social organizations were denied access to marine environmental public interest litigation. However, Articles 1234 and 1235 of Chapter 7 of the Tort Liability Part VII of the Civil Code, Article 58, Paragraph 1, and Article 58 of the Environmental Protection Law all clearly stipulate that social organizations have the right to claim compensation for acts that cause ecological and environmental damage. However, the Marine Environmental Protection Law limits the right to claim compensation to the department with the right to supervise the marine environment, which is obviously contrary to the provisions of the Civil Code, the Civil Procedure Law and the Environmental Protection Law.
"Since the Civil Code, the Civil Procedure Law, and the Environmental Protection Law all authorize social organizations to file civil public interest lawsuits against acts that pollute the environment, damage the ecology and harm the public interest, marine environmental protection should also fall within this scope. However, in reality, there have been a number of marine environmental public interest litigation cases filed by social organizations, which have been ruled inadmissible under the provisions of the Marine Environmental Protection Law. The court held that the person qualified to file a plaintiff in a marine environmental public interest lawsuit can only be the 'marine environment supervision and management department', not a social organization. As a result, environmental protection organizations are completely excluded from marine environmental public interest litigation. Yang Honglan told the "Xiaokang" magazine and China Xiaokang Network reporter.
In order to better protect the marine ecological environment, safeguard the public interest, and for the sake of uniformity in national laws and regulations, Yang Honglan suggested that a preliminary procedure should be set up in the lawsuit for compensation for damage to the marine ecological environment, that is, if the relevant organizations stipulated by law discover acts that pollute the marine environment, damage the marine ecology, or harm the public interest, they may report to the department exercising marine environment supervision and management power under this Law that the illegal acts have not been dealt with or resolved within 60 days, and the marine environment supervision and management department has not proposed damages. Eligible social organizations may file a lawsuit in the people's courts. "The addition of the above provisions, on the one hand, can maintain the current litigation order from being disrupted, and on the other hand, the addition of supplementary public interest litigation can prevent the emergence of a vacuum in the relief of damage to the public interest, and more effectively protect the mainland marine ecological environment."
("Xiaokang" · China Xiaokang Network exclusive article)
This article appeared in the late May 2023 issue of Xiaokang