On August 4, tourists took a sightseeing boat in the Hulunbuir Hulun Lake Tourist Scenic Area. Photo by Xu Qin, a reporter from Xinhua News Agency
In the steppes of Inner Mongolia, there is a lake that is fascinating. It is Hulun Lake, the largest freshwater lake in the north of the mainland, which means "sea-like lake" in Mongolian, and plays an irreplaceable role in protecting biodiversity, regulating regional climate, maintaining grassland ecological balance and ensuring ecological security in the north of the mainland.
Hulun Lake suffered an ecological crisis, and the outside world once asserted that it would be the next Lop Nur. In recent years, the Party Committee Government of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Hulunbuir City have taken a number of effective measures in terms of grassland ecological protection, industrial structure adjustment, management and protection capacity building, environmental improvement, scientific research and monitoring, wetland ecosystem restoration and water resources security. Today, the wild geese on the shores of Hulun Lake have returned to the blue waves, and their governance and protection work has achieved remarkable results.
The ecological crisis has ushered in a turning point
In summer, Hulun Lake has one color of water and sky, the lake is clear and the shore is clean, and birds are flying.
Early in the morning, Manda, a volunteer herdsman who patrols the lake, rides a motorcycle to the lake. "I feel very relieved to see that Hulun Lake is clear again." Growing up on the edge of Hulun Lake, Manda has witnessed several changes in the ecology of Hulun Lake from good to bad and then to good, "When I was a child, the lake water was clear and I could directly pull water to drink. More than a decade ago, the lake was shrinking, and the water floating with garbage could not be drunk. ”
Affected by periodic drought and human activities, from 2002 to 2012, the water level of Hulun Lake continued to decline, the lake surface shrank sharply, wetlands continued to shrink, wildlife plummeted, and the ecological security of the river basin was urgent.
"At that time, there were fewer fish in the lake, there were no birds, and the grassland around the lake was seriously desertified." Hou Yuguang, a herder living on the eastern shore of Hulun Lake, recalls that hunting, bird hunting, and private fishing were repeatedly prohibited.
In 2013, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region launched an all-round action to save Hulun Lake, and Hulunbuir City shouldered the main responsibility, regarded the ecological protection and governance of Hulun Lake as the key project to build an important ecological security barrier in the north of the mainland, and implemented a number of protection and treatment measures.
The local government first started by reducing man-made pollution, canceled catering and tourism activities around the lake, relocated all herders in the core area and buffer zone of Hulun Lake National Nature Reserve, returned fishing companies to production, and built 10 domestic sewage treatment and reuse projects, trying every means to minimize the impact of human activities.
"About seventy percent of the Hulun Lake basin is in the territory of Xinbalhuyouqi, and despite the perennial drought, we do not take a drop of water from Hulun Lake." Bu and Bayar, secretary of the New Bal Tiger Right Banner Committee, said.
Hulunbuir has also set up a public security department dedicated to protecting wetland ecology, the Hulun Lake Public Security Sub-Bureau. Xue Aizhong, deputy director of the bureau, said that since 2016, they have investigated a number of criminal cases, effectively curbing the destruction of Hulun Lake's resources and environment.
Ten years of governance, the ecological crisis ushered in a turning point. Monitoring shows that the water level and water level of Hulun Lake have risen steadily, and the water level has expanded to 2,244.3 square kilometers, with a water volume of 13.97 billion cubic meters, close to the highest level in history.
The ecology is better and the wildlife is back. At present, the number of bird species in Hulun Lake National Nature Reserve has increased to 345, fish species to 39, and mammals to 38. "The rabbit, which has not been seen for many years, actually made a home on my ranch the year before last." Manda stood on the shore, and he saw the wild geese sweeping down and stopping on the swamp to build a nest.
A sign on the shore of Hulun Lake reads: "We have nothing left but footprints." We took nothing but photography. "It describes the harmonious relationship between man and the lake now.
From "Lake Management" to "River Basin Management"
Behind the ecological change of Hulun Lake is the change of protection concept.
"Over the years, the treatment and protection of Hulun Lake has gone through detours, once shelved, and was criticized by the central environmental inspectorate for making slow progress." Gao Runxi, secretary of the Hulunbuir Municipal Party Committee, said that the whole city made up its mind, changed its thinking in a timely manner, and continuously optimized the comprehensive treatment of Hulun Lake in practice.
In the past ten years, the concept of ecological protection and governance of Hulun Lake has undergone three changes: first, from "discussing the lake on the lake" to comprehensive management of the river basin; the second is to transform from "Kowloon Water Control" to coordination and unification; The third is to pay more attention to the construction of water ecology on the basis of "stable quantity and quality".
"As a swallowing lake, the amount of water and ecological quality of Hulun Lake largely depends on the water coming from upstream, and we cannot 'talk about the lake just about the lake'." Zou Weidong, director of the Hulun Lake National Nature Reserve Management Bureau, said. However, at the beginning of the governance of Hulun Lake, more attention was paid to the management of the lake itself.
Dou Huashan, a doctor of wildlife conservation and utilization who has been on the front line of Hulun Lake management all year round, said: "At that time, all departments were starting from their own perspectives and lacked consideration of the impact of the entire Hulun Lake basin. After that, the local government adjusted the governance plan in a timely manner, comprehensively considered the role of wetlands, sandy lands, grasslands and forests in the regional ecosystem and the relationship with rivers and lakes, and comprehensively promoted the comprehensive management of the Hulun Lake basin.
In order to solve the problem of "Jiulong water control", Hulunbuir City merged multiple agencies involved in the management of the Hulun Lake basin to achieve "one thing managed by one department".
The local government has also set up a leading group for the comprehensive ecological management of Hulun Lake, headed by the secretary of the municipal party committee and the deputy secretary of the municipal party committee and mayor, and included the implementation of tasks in the annual assessment of party and government leadership groups at all levels. "The linkage of the leading group has further promoted the development of integrated protection and governance of the whole river basin." Mo Rigen, a staff member of the office of the leading group for comprehensive ecological management of Hulun Lake, said.
The governance goals of Hulun Lake have also become clear with the deepening of scientific research and practice.
Dou Huashan said that in the past, he pursued to improve water quality indicators, but later found that the causes of water pollution in Hulun Lake are complex, and the quality of water quality does not fully reflect the level of environmental quality, such as although the water quality is not suitable for human drinking, it can still meet the survival needs of various aquatic organisms.
In 2021, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment agreed that Hulun Lake will no longer be assessed for water quality during the 14th Five-Year Plan period. Hulun Lake has also become the first pilot lake in China to carry out water ecological environment assessment and assessment. Dou Huashan said: "The shift from paying attention to water quality to focusing more on water ecology is a major manifestation of Hulun Lake's shift to scientific governance. ”
It still takes a long time to keep a lake and clear water
At present, Hulun Lake is ushering in the most beautiful season, and the local government department is stepping up emergency drills for the cyanobacteria bloom phenomenon that Hulun Lake is prone to in summer.
In the past ten years, great progress has been made in the ecological protection and governance of Hulun Lake, people's understanding of the ecology of the Hulun Lake Basin has changed from shallow to deep, the analysis of the causes of the problem has changed from the surface to the inside, and the governance methods have become more scientific and accurate.
However, new problems also arise.
In summer, the local lake water "abnormally" turns green, accompanied by a pungent smell, and dead fish wash up on the shore from time to time. Cyanobacteria blooms have become the most difficult problem in the current governance of Hulun Lake.
"Hulun Lake is an algae-type lake, and it is difficult to completely control cyanobacteria blooms by relying on human forces. Therefore, the local area mainly monitors and warns, and implements small-scale artificial treatment in key ecological regions. Dou Huashan said that the current monitoring and early warning capacity of Hulun Lake is not enough, and the existing number of automatic monitoring stations in terms of the area of Hulun Lake cannot provide enough data collection.
In addition, problems such as weak basic research and inconvenient cross-border scientific research cooperation have become increasingly prominent.
"Long-term historical monitoring data can reflect the succession law of lakes and the cycle of dry water abundance, and guide us to carry out protection and governance work scientifically." Dou Huashan said, but at present, the mainland's meteorological and hydrological data on Hulun Lake only spans 60 or 70 years, and the water quality only has more than 20 years of monitoring data, and the lack of historical data restricts basic research.
In the Hulun Lake National Nature Reserve Management Bureau, the Hulunbuir City Northern Cold and Arid Area Inland Lake Research Institute, almost every room in the two-story building is filled with experimental testing instruments. Ao Wen, vice president of the institute, said: "Scientific research instruments are important, but researchers are the key. At present, the institute lacks high-level scientific research personnel. ”
Li Fang, director of the Water Ecology and Environment Division of the Inner Mongolia Department of Ecology and Environment, said that the results of the treatment of Hulun Lake have not come easily, and the next step of governance must rely on in-depth and systematic scientific research, follow the laws of nature, and adopt prudent and accurate management and protection methods.
To guard a lake and protect the green water and green mountains, it still takes a long time for all parties to continue to explore methods and paths, and then realize the overall restoration from protecting mountains, rivers and lakes to promoting the overall restoration of the ecological environment.
Reporting by Yu Changhong, Zhang Lina, An Lumeng, Zhao Zehui, Wang Jing, and Hohhot
Source: Economic Information Daily