China News Service, Guangzhou, September 16. Title: Guangdong lays out a new picture of wetland ecology
China News Service reporter Cheng Jingwei
Since ancient times, the Guangdong Pearl River Delta region has seen the intersection of rivers and seas, and the symbiosis of water and land. Thousands of years of natural evolution and thousands of years of human activities have intertwined, giving birth to the world's unique wetland spatial pattern of "the confluence of three rivers and the divergence of eight mouths", covering a variety of wetland types such as forest swamps, inland tidal flats, river surfaces, mangroves, and shallow sea waters.
In recent years, the Guangdong Provincial Forestry Bureau has closely adhered to the new positioning of "one point, two places" in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, centered on the ecological construction deployment of Green Beauty Guangdong, guided by the creation of an international wetland city, and focused on the construction of characteristic projects, to promote the construction of a Damei wetland system that demonstrates the characteristics of the Bay Area, the characteristics of the times, and international quality, creating a global model of urban-wet integration and human-wet harmony, and laying a solid foundation for high-quality development.
Interconnection: Damei Wetland Characteristic Projects are advancing in an orderly manner
Currently, as one of the four key projects of Guangdong’s forestry “15th Five-Year Plan”, the construction of the Pearl River Delta Damei Wetland System has entered its initial stage. A number of special projects such as Foshan’s Sangyuanwei Damei Wetland are advancing in an orderly manner.
Foshan Sangyuanwei has the largest concentration of contiguous mulberry fish ponds in the Pearl River Delta. Recently, reporters climbed up to the viewing platform of Jiguan Peak in Xiqiao Mountain, Nanhai, Foshan, and overlooked the mulberry fish ponds at the foot of the mountain. They saw countless green square fish ponds arranged vertically and horizontally, which together with the village houses, rivers, green trees and roads formed a beautiful picture of Lingnan green beauty.
"Foshan Sangyuanwei was first built in the Song Dynasty. It integrates elements such as embankments, gates, and rivers. After more than 900 years, it is still functioning as irrigation, water supply, drainage, and waterlogging. It is an ecological model of 'human and water symbiosis.'" Liang Birong, a staff member of the Foshan Forestry Bureau, said that the Foshan Sangyuanwei Damei Wetland Project involves Xiqiao Town in Nanhai District, Jiujiang Town, and Longjiang Town in Shunde District, with a total planned area of 226 square kilometers.
The project systematically integrates advantageous resources such as Xiqiao Mountain, over 100,000 acres of contiguous mulberry fish ponds, ancient trees and ancient villages, and uses methods such as ecological restoration, landscape linkage and cultural implantation to promote regional protection and development, activate the historical and cultural heritage of Sangyuanwei, promote the transformation of ecological value, build a modern green industrial cluster with full industry, wide range and multiple business formats, and realize the integrated development of "production, life and ecology".
The development vitality of the "wetland + cultural tourism" industry is emerging. At the southern foot of Xiqiao Mountain, the Yugeng Yue Yun Cultural Tourism Park completely preserves the beautiful scenery of the Pearl River Delta mulberry and fish ponds, with an area of nearly a thousand acres planted with mulberries. "We have carried out ecological management and transformation, and carried out ecological research, intangible cultural heritage research, nature education and other activities around the mulberry fish pond, integrating mulberry, silk reeling, fragrant cloud yarn and other elements to allow tourists to experience the beauty of green ecology and history and humanity." said Li Huiran, the person in charge of the park.
Global attention: Models of mangrove wetland protection and management emerge
In recent years, a number of typical cases of mangrove protection have emerged in various parts of the Pearl River Delta. For example, Jiangmen Taishan built a 30-kilometer coastal mangrove belt and carried out nature education on a regular basis; Huizhou comprehensively managed the sea environment and cultivated 10,000 acres of contiguous mangrove "sea forests"; Shenzhen Bay continued to optimize the intertidal ecology, providing a place for nearly 100,000 migratory birds to rest and overwinter every year... This has laid a solid foundation for Guangdong to promote the construction of a beautiful wetland system in the Pearl River Delta.
On one side is the vitality of the city, on the other side is the tranquility of the wetland ecology. The effectiveness of wetland ecological management in Guangdong's megacities is attracting global attention. Not long ago, more than a hundred foreign media reporters participating in the Asia-Pacific Media High-end Forum walked into the Futian Mangrove National Nature Reserve in Shenzhen. They saw waterbirds flitting across the treetops, and the green on both sides extended towards the skyline. This is the only national nature reserve in the country's urban hinterland. It is across the water from Hong Kong's Mai Po Reserve and together form the Deep Bay Mangrove Wetland Ecosystem. In 2020, Futian Mangrove was included in the list of important national wetlands.
"Shenzhen has rich mangrove species and well-preserved wetlands. What's even more surprising is that it is so close to the city center." said Mansoor Ali Memon, press minister of the Pakistani Embassy in China. Heru Andrianto, editor-in-chief of Indonesia's "Jakarta Globe" said frankly that the core area of this world-class industrial metropolis retains intact mangroves, thereby achieving a balance between urban construction and natural habitats.
The environment is improving: "passengers" of migratory birds become "regular visitors" and "residents"
The whole province of Guangdong takes the ecological construction of Green Beautiful Guangdong as the general guide, continues to improve wetland protection laws and regulations, improves the protection management system, strengthens the monitoring and control of key areas such as important wetlands, wetland parks and mangroves, scientifically carries out mangrove protection and restoration, and promotes wetland protection work to achieve remarkable results.
Attracted by Guangdong's good wetland ecological environment, more and more rare migratory birds have changed from "migratory visitors" to "frequent visitors" and even "settled residents", reproducing their offspring in the land of southern Guangdong.
A Spoon-billed Sandpiper, a national first-level protected wild animal with an "L5" band on its leg, recently appeared in Yangxi County, Yangjiang City, Guangdong Province. According to reports, the Spoon-billed Sandpiper has been wintering here for several consecutive years and stayed for about 8 months.
Coincidentally, the Zhuhai Bird Watching Association recently completely recorded the entire breeding cycle of the national first-level protected wild animal Painted Ibis from nesting, brooding to leaving the nest in Zhuhai wetlands and rice fields. Currently, there are 12 painted ibises in the area.
In recent years, Guangdong has become increasingly rich in bird resources: the number of historically recorded wild bird species has increased from 507 species in 2001 to 584 species today, including 412 species of migratory birds, with a significant increase in species and quantity. From October to April each year, hundreds of thousands of migratory birds pass through Guangdong to spend the winter. The three-dimensional ecological network formed by coastal beaches, estuary wetlands and mountains in northern Guangdong provides excellent habitat conditions for various rare waterbirds.
Next, with the arrival of the migratory bird migration season, the land of southern Guangdong will recreate the spectacular scene of migratory birds gathering. Guangdong will take the construction of the beautiful wetland system in the Pearl River Delta as a starting point to deeply explore the basic characteristics of the wetlands in southern Guangdong, coordinate wetland protection and restoration and improve the quality of ecological space, comprehensively enhance the service value of the wetland ecosystem, and create more vivid examples of symbiosis and co-prosperity between wetland protection and urban development.
