Download Marine Conservation in China

CI seascape workshop-Philippine
Marine Conservation in China
Zhou Qiulin
(Third Institute of Oceanography, SOA)
Wang Jing
(Conservation International –Beijing )
Outlines
• A brief introduction to China’s seas
• China’s recent major successes in relation to
marine conservation
• Recent challenge to marine conservation in
China, and lessons learned in overcoming that
challenge
• Top priorities for marine conservation in China
Features about seascape in China
Covering 3 climatic zones
18 000 km continental
coastline with 6 900
islands and many semienclosed waters
With 22 629 marine species
in 46 phyla and various
marine ecosystems
Under great impact from
human activities
Inventory of marine species
• 20278 species of marine life, accounting for above 10%
of the world total.
• Number of marine species increases from the north to
the south, with 1140 species in the Yellow and Bohai
seas, 4167 species in the East China Sea and 5613
species in the South China Sea.
• 1694 species of fishes, 90 species of cephapods, more
than 300 species of shrimps and over 600 species of
crabs. China has recorded more than 1590 species of
intertidal animals with 513 species of mulluscs, 358
species of algae, 308 species of crustacea .
Health of coral reefs
• The coral reef ecosystems under monitoring in 2010
were sub-healthy, decreasing in comparison with that
in 2009.
• In the past 5 years, the average coverage of living reef
builders has decreased 58%, 15% and 12% in Xisha
islands , the east of Hainan Island and the southwest
of the Leizhou Peninsula.
• In the past 5 years, the number of corals has
decreased from 87 species to 43 species, and the
density of coral fishes has decreased from 213 heads
to 124 heads per 100 square meters in Xisha waters.
Fish density and coverage of living
corals in Xisha Islands
Recent major successes
• Development of
MPA network
• Capacity building
in MPA management
• Legislative
development
• Publicity and
international
cooperation
Development of MPAs
• A system of MPA network has been developed
and the major targets are under protection .
• Totally 201 MPAs of various types with a total
area 3.3 million ha, accounting for 1.12% of the
total area under China’s jurisdiction.
Comparison to that in 1990, the number and
area has expanded 2.2 and 9.5 times.
• China promises to expand the area of MPAs to
3% and 5% of the total area under China’s
jurisdiction in 2015 and 2020.
Capacity building
• Management capacity has been enhanced as most of
the state level MPAs have established management
institution, arranged staffs and operational budget,
implemented law-enforcement taskforce and strictly
checked illegal and violent activities.
• MPA management system has been improved as the
coastal provinces and local governments have
developed and circulated corresponding management
documents in line with the local needs for MPA
management.
Legislation and national policies
• In the 1990s and 2000s, China's marine environmental
legal system developed rapidly. In 1997, Criminal Law
incorporated a section entitled “Environmental Crime”;
in 1999, the Marine Environmental Protection Law was
revised and a new section “Marine Ecosystem
Conservation Protection” was added; in 2001, the Sea
Area Use Law established state ownership of sea and
marine resources in China. And in 2010 the Island
Conservation Law was issued specially on the
sustainable utilization of islands. Supplementing the
laws, many regulations and rules have been adopted
and have played important roles in the management of
marine environment.
Marine Environmental Protection Law
• Article 22 A marine nature reserve shall be established where
one of the following situations exists:
• (1)being a typical marine physiographic area as well as a
representative natural ecosystem area, or an area where the
natural ecosystem has been damaged to some extent, but may
be recovered through efforts of conservation;
• (2)being an area with higher marine biodiversity, or an area
where rare and dying out marine species are naturally and
densely scattered;
• (3)being a sea area, seashore, island, coastal wetland, estuary,
bay or the like with special conservation;
• (4)being an area where marine natural remains of great
scientific and cultural values are located; or
• (5)any other area calling for special conservation.
The Wildlife Conservation Law
• Adopted in 1988 and amended in 2004, the Law is to
save rare and endangered wildlife. The Law is
supplemented by the Regulations for the
Conservation of Aquatic Wildlife On September 1,
2006, the State Council adopted the Regulations on
the Import and Export of Endangered Wildlife, which
provides that the export and import of specimens of
species included in the appendices of the Convention
on the International Trade in Endangered Species of
Wild Faunu and Flora, are prohibited.
Regulations on Nature Reserve
• Article 8 The State shall institute a system which combines integrated
management with separate departmental management for the
management of nature reserve.
• The competent department of environment protection under the State
Council is responsible for the integrated management of the nature
reserve throughout the country.
• The competent departments of forestry, agriculture, geology and mineral
resources, water conservancy, and marine affairs and other departments
concerned are respectively responsible for relevant nature reserve under
their jurisdiction.
• The people’s governments of provinces, autonomous regions and
municipalities directly under the Central Government shall, according to
the specific condition of the locality, decide on the establishment and the
responsibilities of the administrative departments of nature reserve in the
people’s governments at or above the county level.
Publicity and international
cooperation
• Publicity
campaigns and
international
cooperation
have been
developed
especially in the
national MPAs
in various forms
.
Recent challenges
• No systematic planning of MPAs at a national
scale
• Challenges from HIPPO, such as habitat
destruction, invasive species ,pollution,
population and overharvesting
Governance of MPAs
• Currently, the MPA system in China is governed under a threetier structure operating at national, local and site. The State
Council is the top policy and decision-making body. The
Ministry of Environmental Protection oversees the
development and management of the overall protected-area
system in China, while the State Oceanic Administration is
officially charged with the overall planning and supervision of
the MPA system.
• Under the current governance structure, the central
government is mainly responsible for the development of
policies, regulatory frameworks, plans, and technical
guidelines relevant to the overall MPA network. It also
provides limited funds to cover the cost of infrastructures in
newly established national MPAs.
• Local governments are mainly responsible for the
selection of candidate sites, providing personnel and
funds for the daily management and enforcement of
individual MPAs and ensuring that the various
national provisions related to MPAs are implemented
within their jurisdictions. This allocation of authority
and responsibilities means that although the central
government sets out the objectives, targets, and
regulations for the overall MPA system, it has
devolved very limited financial and technical
resources for the implementation of the MPA system.
Local governments, therefore, often have greater
responsibilities for and influences on the actual
design and performance of MPAs in China
• The administrative decentralisation of MPA
management has both benefits and costs for
conservation in China. It has greatly increased the
incentives of local governments in establishing and
managing MPAs and broadened the channels
through which MPAs can be designated and funded.
Locally designated MPAs now contribute to over 75%
of the number and 35% of the total area of the MPA
system, while the bulk of protected-area funding in
China now comes from local governments . However,
the devolution of management authority to lower
tier governments has repeatedly resulted in negative
environmental impacts.
• As promotions of local government officials in China
are strongly linked to their performance in the
economic sector, the short-term local economic and
political gains often outweigh the long-term benefits
of environmental protection . Reclamation in the
land owned by local governments has led to largescale destruction of coastal wetlands in some MPAs .
In the Yancheng Rare Birds MNR, listed both as a
Ramsar Wetland of International Importance and a
UNESCO Man and Biosphere reserve, reclamation
has destroyed over 117,412 ha of natural wetlands .
To increase the incentives and cooperation from local
governments for nature conservation remains to be
one of the greatest challenges for the development
of the MPA system in China.
• There has been no systematic planning of MPAs at a
national scale in China; therefore the selection of
MPAs is often the responsibility of lower level
governments. For national MPAs, candidate sites and
their boundaries are proposed by provincial
governments, evaluated by a special committee
consisting of scientists and representatives from
relevant national government agencies, and submitted
to the State Council (for marine nature reserves—
MNRs) or the State Oceanic Administration (SOA; for
marine special protected areas—MSPAs) for final
approval and declaration. Locally designated MPAs are
nominated, evaluated, and declared by local
governments.
• This bottom-up selection process enables rapid conservation
responses in some MPAs. However, the lack of systematic
planning processes has been of major scientific concern; with adhoc, decentralised planning leading to the selection of unsuitable
areas and the exclusion of ecologically important areas from the
MPA system . Local governments in China often perceive the
development of protected areas as a symbol of administrative
achievement and a potential source of tourism income. As a
result, important decisions such as the zoning and configuration
of protected areas are regularly driven by local socio-economic
interests rather than by strategic objectives; and rigorous
scientific assessments are triggered only when a local
government wants to upgrade a locally designated MPA to a
national rank .
Habitat destruction
• Since 1949，there have been four major surges of sea
enclosing and land reclamation in China. The first surge
was sea enclosing for solar salt in the early days of New
China. The second one was beach reclamation for the
expansion of agricultural land from the mid-1960s to
the 1970s. The third one was the large-scale beach
reclamation for aquaculture from the late 1980s to the
early 1990s. In the 21st century，China sets off a new
round of large-scale reclamation，mainly for urban and
port construction，and industrial development.
Habitat destruction
• According to SOA’s statistics，the total approved reclaimed area
in China was 2，225.04 km2 in 2007. However，the latest
results gathered by the National Dynamic Monitoring and
Management System show an actual reclaimed area of 8，241
km2 in 1990 and 13，380 km2 in 2008，with an average annual
reclamation of 285 km2（Fu et al.，2010）. These actual
numbers are far larger than the SOA statistics.
• At present，the coastal provinces and cities have made their
reclamation plan based on the local needs. The incomplete
statistics show that by 2020，the overall reclamation demand is
predicted to be greater than 5，780 km2，almost equal to half
of the total area reclaimed over the past 50 years. If not properly
managed and controlled，such a large demand for sea
reclamation will harm China's coastal ecosystem integrity
significantly.
• To response to the issues in land reclamation ,
SOA and SDRC issued a circular letter in 2009
to strengthen the management of land
reclamation planning and decided to
incorporate land reclamation planning of
national economic and social development
plan since 2010.
• In December 2011, SOA and SDRC issued the
regulations concerning the management of
land reclamation planning, stating that any
land reclamation activity should follow the
mandate management.
Pollution
• Action Plan for Marine Biodiversity Conservation in
China (1992),China’s Ocean Agenda 21 (1996),
Program for the development of MPAs in China （
1996-2010）; National Plan for Marine Ecosystem
Conservation and Construction under development.
• Bohai Blue Sea Action Plan mandates to effectively
control the total load of nitrogen, phosphorus and oil
and have the quality of coastal waters meeting the
standards for environmental functional zones , to well
restore marine ecosystems and enhance ecosystem
services in the Bohai Sea in 2015.
• National Marine Functional Zoning Scheme approved by the
State Council in line with the Law for Sea Use management
has delineated the coastal waters into 10 major functional
zone and defined the major functions in 30 key waters in
coastal China with mandate requirements for marine
conservation .
• National Program for Ocean Development approved by the
State Council in 2008 mandates to strengthen marine
environmental management and land-based pollution
control, fasten the implementation of the systems for total
pollution load control on the basis of marine carrying capacity
and check the tendency of coastal pollution and ecological
deterioration.
• National Engineering Plan for Wetland Conservation （20032030 ）and National Programmatic Action Plan for the
Conservation of Aquatic Living Resources have mandated the
regulation about coastal wetland conservation and utilization .
lower economic development
Overharvesting
• According to the Programme for the Conservation of
Aquatic Biological Resources in China issued by the
State Council, China has reduced from 222 000 motor
fishing boats, 12.7 million KW of power and 13.06
million tons of domestic fishing output at the end of
2002 to respectively 192 000 boats, 11.43 million KW
and 12 million tons of output and released for fishery
enhancement 20 billion heads of artificially hatched
larva into the sea. And up to 2020, the figures will be
reduced respectively to 160 000 boats, 10 million KW
and 10 million tons and the number of released
artificially hatched larva will be 40 billion heads.
Overharvesting
• According to the Programme for the
Conservation of Aquatic Biological Resources
in China issued by the State Council, China will
reduce the number of motor fishing boats,
power and domestic fishing output
respectively to 160 000 boats, 10 million KW
and 10 million tons while releasing for fishery
enhancement each 40 billion heads of larva
up to 2020.
• Improve the marine management mechanism through
enhanced coordination.
• Strengthen sea area and island management, improve
the market mechanism for sea area use rights, promote
the protection and utilization of sea islands, and
support the development of remote seas islands.
• Make unified planning of marine environmental
protection and land-based pollution, and strengthen
the protection and recovery of the marine ecosystem.
• Prevent the overexploitation of offshore resources,
strengthen reclamation management, and regulate the
utilization of unoccupied sea islands strictly.
• Improve the marine disaster relief system, and
strengthen the handling capability of marine
emergencies.
• Strengthen integrated marine surveying and mapping,
and carry out polar and oceanic scientific investigation
actively.
• Improve maritime laws, regulations and policies, and
enhance marine law-enforcement to maintain the
order of exploitation of marine resources.
• Strengthen bilateral and multilateral marine affairs
negotiation, participate in international marine affairs
actively, ensure the safety of marine transport
channels, and maintain our country’s marine rights and
interests.
Top priorities
• To strengthen the development and management of
MPAs and strive to build up an MPA network with
various types, rational distribution, perfect function
and proper conservation at the end of 2015.
• To standardize the management mode of marine
parks and explore a management of marine parks
suitable to China’s situation.
• To implement the policy combining ecological
construction and integrated environmental
management and restore the damaged marine
ecosystems.
Top priorities
• To implement the environmental policy combining
integrated management and coordinated economic
development and promote ecosystem-based
environmental management in China’s all sea .
• To promote the development of the system for marine
ecological compensation and promote the
coordinated marine economic development and
conservation with economic tools.
• To promote the education and publicity for marine
biodiversity conservation and eco-civilization ,improve
public participation and education mechanism and
promote international exchange and cooperation.
National Plan for Marine Ecological
Conservation and Construction
• The plan extends from 2011 to 2020 and covers the
areas of marine biodiversity conservation, the
development of MPAs, SMPAs and national marine
parks, the restoration of typical damaged ecosystems
, the development of ecological monitoring
networks, the demonstration sites for coastal
ecological development and the engineering projects
to guarantee ecological conservation and
construction.
South China Sea
• Ecological conservation and habitat restoration for
various ecosystems such as mangroves and seagrass
beds in the Pearl River drainage area.
• Habitat conservation and management of semienclosed bays in the Beibu Gulf.
• Conservation and management of coral reef
seascapes in the area around the Hainan Islands.
• Conservation and management of specific species
and coral reefs in the Nansha and Xisha islands.
Thank You for Your Attention!