Project Name: China: Wetland Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Use

PROJECT BRIEF

1. Identifiers

Project Number:

Duration: Five years

Implementing Agency: United Nations Development Programme

Executing Agency: State Forestry Administration of the PRC

Requesting Country: People’s Republic of China (PRC)

Eligibility: Ratification of the Convention on Biological Diversity: 5January 1993. Notification of participation in the re-structured GEF: 16 May1994

GEF Focal Area: Biodiversity

GEF Programming

Framework: OP 2: Coastal, Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems

2. Summary: China has over 24 million hectares of important and unique natural wetlands, supporting high global biodiversity. Rates of wetland degradation are high due to human development pressures, and nearly 40% of all wetlands of international importance are under threat. The Biodiversity Conservation Action Plan, Agenda 21 and the draft National Wetland Conservation Action Plan provide the foundation for the conservation and better management of China’s wetland resources. However, barriers to effective conservation of global wetland biodiversity remain. These include: i) a lack of integration of wetland management and biodiversity conservation into development planning; ii) no institutional mechanisms for multi-sectoral wetland management; iii) limited awareness of wetland values and functions at all levels; iv) lack of examples of sustainable development of wetland resources and involvement of local communities; and v) lack of technical capacity at national and local levels to manage and conserve wetlands and their biodiversity. The proposed project will remove these barriers at four demonstration project sites with high global biodiversity importance in four areas (Sanjiang Plain, Ruoergai Marshes, Yancheng Coast and Dongting Lakes). Each represents a different ecosystem and are, collectively, representative of China as a whole. A national coordination component will also ensure that lessons learned from this project will be appropriately transferred to other wetlands throughout the country. GEF support will be closely allied with new Government programmes that conserve biodiversity and ensure locally sustainable development.

3. Costs and Financing (US$ million)

GEF: Project : 11.689

[of which administrative cost is : 0.850]

PDF Block B : 0.337

Sub-total GEF : 12.026

Co-Financing: UNDP : 0.300

Bilateral donors : 2.427

Government : 20.297

Sub-Total Co-Financing : 23.024

Total Project Cost : 35.050

4. Associated Baseline Financing (US $Million): US$ 56.662

5. Operational Focal Point Endorsement:

Name: Mr. Zhu Xian Title: Director General

Organization: Ministry of Finance Date: 6 November 1998

6. IA Contact:

Mr. Tim Boyle, GEF Regional Coordinator Tel: (212) 906-6511

Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific Fax: (212) 906-5825

DC1-2368, One United Nations Plaza e-mail:

New York NY 10017

List of Acronyms

BCAP National Biodiversity Conservation Action Plan

BR Biosphere Reserve

CBD Convention on Biological Diversity

CTA Chief Technical Advisor

CZMP Coastal Zone Management Plan

GIS Geographic Information System

M&E Monitoring and Evaluation

NGO Non-governmental Organization

NPD National Programme Director

NNR National Nature Reserve

NWCAP National Wetland Conservation Action Plan

OECF Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund (Government of Japan)

PAS Protected Area System

PLG Project Leading Group

PMU Project Management Unit

PNR Provincial Nature Reserve

PPER Project Performance Evaluation Report

PRA Participatory Rural Appraisal

PRC People’s Republic of China

SEPA State Environmental Protection Agency

SFA State Forest Administration

TPR Tripartite Review

UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

UNV United Nations Volunteers

WMA Wetland Management Authority

WWF Worldwide Fund for Nature

I Background and Context (Baseline course of action)

1. China has over 24 million hectares of some of the world’s most important and unique natural wetlands, supporting an extremely wide range of globally important biological diversity. In addition to being habitats for endangered or endemic plants and animal, they act as crucial staging and breeding areas for migratory bird populations, including many globally threatened species, in the East Asian-Australasian and Central Asian flyways. The use of these wetlands also supplies rice, protein, medicine, energy and raw materials for local communities.

2. Wetlands in China and the biodiversity they support are under the constant threat of degradation, mostly associated with human development pressures, such as drainage, conversion to agricultural and other uses, unsustainable resource use, illegal hunting and pollution. Between 1950 and 1980 the area of freshwater lakes in China decreased by 11%, with highest rates of loss (nearly 35%) in the mid- to lower Yangtze valley. Coastal wetlands have also been subject to intense development pressure, with about 75% of China’s mangrove wetlands disappearing in the last 40 years. Specific data for the rates of loss in other wetland habitats are not available, but the rates are known to be high. Nearly 40% of all “wetlands of international importance” (as defined under Ramsar Convention criteria) in China are thought to be under moderate to high threat (Scott and Poole, 1989; Lu, 1990; Claridge, 1994 – see Annex E3).

3. China has increasingly recognized the importance of conserving its nationally and globally significant wetland biodiversity and has taken significant steps to protect it. This includes the ratification of the Ramsar Convention and designation of six Ramsar sites in 1992, and the ratification of the Convention on Biological Diversity in 1993. In 1994, China approved its national Agenda 21 and launched the National Biodiversity Conservation Action Plan (BCAP). The BCAP highlights four objectives with particular relevance to wetlands conservation: 1) the need for an improved and expanded protected area system; 2) improved personnel training; 3) integration of biodiversity conservation into sustainable development planning; and 4) establishment of nationwide information networks and monitoring systems. In addition, the BCAP commits China to “establishing regional economic demonstration models for coordinating biodiversity conservation and sustainable utilization” and “establishing demonstration sites in nature reserves”.

4. The National Wetland Conservation Action Plan (NWCAP) involving 17 Ministries and other government agencies is another important action initiated in 1995. The draft NWCAP highlights China’s commitment for: 1) specific demonstrations of sustainable use and better protection at its important wetland sites; 2) increasing the number of designated Ramsar sites; and 3) a reform of government policies relating to wetland protection. This project will assist China to fulfil its commitments under the NWCAP.

5. About two million hectares of wetlands, and most of the globally significant areas, are represented within the protected area system of National and Provincial nature reserves. By 1996, a total of 152 wetland protected areas, covering over 1.13 million hectares and representing all known wetland ecosystems in China had been established and ratified by appropriate central and provincial authorities. At key sites, and with significant international

financial assistance, China has embarked on major environmental engineering works to restore the physical and ecological characteristics of these sites.

Despite the measures currently planned or being undertaken, the biodiversity of wetland sites in China remains under a complex and diverse array of threats. While some of these threats are common to all or most wetlands sites, others are more site-specific. Consequently, a comprehensive demonstration of methods to secure conservation of globally significant biodiversity will need to involve appropriate mechanisms at a central level to complement actions undertaken at specific sites.

This project proposes to demonstrate approaches to remove threats to wetland biodiversity at four sites representing both different types of wetland and different arrays of threats. Some of the proposed activities are common to all four sites, and apply at a landscape, or wider scale. These include the incorporation of biodiversity overlays into land use planning, the adoption of an inter-sectoral planning approach, and public awareness and training. On the other hand, some threats apply at a smaller spatial scale, and require actions that are more localized in nature. Consequently, at all four locations, a “focal site” is identified, representing the most significant area from a biodiversity perspective, where many of the actions designed to remove site-specific threats will be concentrated, while other activities will more appropriately cover a larger area, including adjacent protected areas and non-protected land.

8. The four project sites selected during the PDF Block B stage of project formulation are: (1) Honghe NNR and surrounding area; (2) Xiamen PNR, Gaihai NNR, Shouqu PNR and intervening areas in the Ruoergai Marshes; 3) Dafeng NNR and surrounding area in the Yancheng coastal marshes; and 4) East Dongting NNR and surrounding area. As part of the follow-up activities to the actions outlined in the BCAP and those highlighted in the draft NWCAP, the Government of China has allocated US$ 9.87 million for the five year period 1999-2003 for conservation and sustainable use projects. Annex E1 describes the site selection criteria and process, and provides further details on the global significance of the selected project sites. Table 1, at the end of the text, provides a summary for each site of its size, global biodiversity significance, threats, and site objectives and activities.

Honghe NNR and surrounding area, Sanjiang Plain

Sanjiang Plain in Heilongjiang Province is a vast, low lying alluvial floodplain of about five million hectares in the apex of the Heilongjiang (Amur) and Wusuli rivers. In its former natural state, the floodplain ecosystem consisted of a mosaic of sedge (Carex spp.) and reed (Phragmites communis) marshes, wet grass meadows (Peyeuxia angustifolia), ox-bow lakes, riverine Salix scrub and wooded hummocks of birch (Betula) and poplar (Populus). Two protected areas (Honghe NNR and Sanjiang PNR, East and West) are located on the Sanjiang Plain (see Annex E2), containing one of the few remaining examples of the natural mosaic of wetland habitats, mainly in Honghe NNR, which is listed as a ‘Category A’ site in the China Biodiversity Action Plan. The area is significant for the number and variety of globally threatened waterbirds it supports. In addition, the lakes and rivers support three endemic cyprinid fish species, three rare and two endemic amphibians and over 424 species of flowering plant, including four that are rare endemic species (see Annex E1 for details).

From the socio-economic perspective, Heilongjiang province contains some 2.76% of China’s arable land, representing the largest area of cultivated land per capita of the country. Integration of wetland biodiversity conservation into the planning process for large-scale farming systems is an issue throughout eastern China. Where human populations are high and the development emphasis is focused on food production, wetland values have tended to be ignored in the planning process. During the past 30-40 years much of the wetlands of Sanjiang Plains have been reclaimed for agriculture, including cereals (wheat, rice), soy beans and other crops. The area of farmland has increased from 785,000 ha in 1949 to 3,680,000 ha in the early 1990s. There are 52 State Farms in the area and a national policy to encourage people to come to the Northeast to farm. The population of nearly eight million is within the five municipal jurisdictions of the Sanjiang Plain, of which the agricultural population is four million. Agricultural output is nearly three times industrial output, valued at over US $ 129 million (in 1993). Per capita income is about US $ 180/year.

Honghe NNR constitutes the focal point of the demonstration site in the Sanjiang Plain. The localized threats to the wetland biodiversity of Honghe NNR result from drainage and mis-management of water resources in surrounding areas, leading to water supply problems for Honghe NNR. Threats at the wider landscape scale apply to Honghe NNR, the nearby Sanjiang PNR and surrounding areas, and include:

a. Conversion of wetlands for agriculture, leading to isolation and extirpation of wetlands and biodiversity populations;

Agricultural run-off, leading to increased eutrophication.

Barriers for effective biodiversity conservation are:

No demonstration tools for multi-sectoral wetland management and hydrological restoration in agricultural areas;
Lack of an integrated and coordinated approach to wetland conservation in development planning;
Lack of awareness of the true values and functions of wetlands at all levels; and
Lack of technical capacity at all levels to manage and conserve wetland biodiversity effectively.

To address these threats and barriers, the Government of China has initiated a number

of baseline measures, notably:

Restoration and protection of Honghe NNR as a priority activity under China’s Agenda 21 and NWCAP;
Increased financial and management support for nature reserve protection and monitoring; and
Negotiation of an environmental fund (as part of an OECF, Japan loan) to mitigate the effects of agricultural intensification in areas around Honghe NNR.

14. However, these efforts focus mainly on water flow and quality and do not specifically address biodiversity conservation. Under this project, conservation of biodiversity will be integrated into land-use planning and restoration/protection efforts.

Xiamen PNR, Gaihai Lake NNR, Shouqu PNR and intervening areas, Ruoergai Marshes

15. The Ruoergai Marshes transbounds the Sichuan and Gansu Provinces in the upper Yellow River on the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau (3,400 to 3,900 m. altitude). They consist of approximately 1 million ha. of peat bogs, sedge marshes, lakes and wet grasslands, interspersed with low hills and drier grasslands. Tibetan people, who are almost exclusively pasturalists with vast herds of sheep, yaks, horses and goats, inhabit the Ruoergai Plateau.

16. Xiamen PNR, Gaihai Lake NNR, Shouqu PNR and intervening areas (approx. 500,000

hectares see Annex E2) form the largest contiguous area of high altitude peat bog remaining in China, and one of the largest areas in the world. The relative scarcity of high altitude peat bogs of this size ensures the global biodiversity significance of Ruoergai Marshes for diverse and endemic Tibetan/Himalayan flora, typical of montane peat bogs and alpine grassland. The marshes are also of high global significance as an important breeding area threatened bird species, especially for summering and breeding populations of black-necked cranes, Grus nigricollis. In summer, the population totals 600-900, with about 150-200 breeding pairs, making this the most important breeding and summering area for the species in the world. The marshes and associated rivers also support other significant species, including four rare and endemic fish, two rare or endemic amphibians and two threatened mammals. (Please see Annex E1 for further details).

17. From a socio-economic perspective, the Ruoergai Marshes represents the remote region of western China where traditional nomadic farming practices, principally livestock grazing, have enormous impacts on the environment. Despite a relatively sparse population in this area (125,000 over 1 million ha.), there is intense grazing. In recent decades, traditional nomadic pasturalism is being replaced with semi-nomadic and settled systems, which has increased impacts on fragile environments such as grasslands and wetlands. Industrial and agricultural output is valued at US $ 15.6 million, of which animal husbandry comprises 50%. The annual per capita income is around US $ 72 to 96.