Reference News | How to Build a Low Carbon Green Watershed for Rivers Moving towards the Future?

What is an ecologically healthy river? What is a river with improved water quality? What is a truly low-carbon and green watershed?

On May 20th, 2023, at the 5th China Urban Water Environment and Water Ecological Development Conference, top scholars and industry professionals from both domestic and international sources conducted extensive and in-depth discussions. Qu Jiuhui, president of the Water Environment and Water Ecology Branch of the Chinese Urban Science Research Association, academician of the CAE Member, academician of the Academy of Sciences of Developing Countries, and foreign academician of the National Academy of Engineering of the United States, introduced the basic characteristics of green watersheds with the title "Watershed scanning - green beyond sight distance", and said that at present China's watershed system is undergoing a green transformation in the direction of water resources guarantee, water quality improvement, and ecological health. Our goal is also a vision for the future, that is, low-carbon green watersheds beyond our sight should be zero pollution, carbon neutrality, ecological integrity, and digital watersheds, "said Academician Qu Jiuhui.

International challenges in green watershed governance

Recently, relevant departments such as the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Water Resources, and the Forestry and Grassland Bureau jointly issued the "Key Watershed Water Ecological Environment Protection Plan", proposing to focus on the carrying capacity of water resources, coordinate water disasters, water resources, water environment, and water ecological governance, solidly promote the protection of river and lake ecological environment, orderly achieve river and lake recuperation, restore the life of rivers and watersheds, and promote the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China has attached great importance to the governance of ecological environment in river basins, vigorously carried out water pollution prevention and control work, and achieved positive results in the governance of black and odorous water bodies. With the proposal of the "dual carbon" goal, various regions are actively exploring and practicing the construction of low-carbon and green watersheds. However, in practical work, many difficulties need to be overcome, including cross regional cooperation and governance, advanced technology and substantial financial support, coordinating the interests and demands of various parties such as the government, enterprises, and residents, and extensive public participation and support.

Academician Qu Jiuhui pointed out that the indicator system and evaluation methods for low-carbon green watersheds are very complex and require extensive scientific research. He emphasized that "moving towards zero pollution" needs to be gradually achieved through policy guidance, industry university research collaboration, and joint efforts from all sectors of society; Emphasizing that "carbon neutrality" will bring about overall and systematic changes in watershed management and governance; It is emphasized that "biological integrity" is the core element of ecological integrity in green watersheds. Academician Qu Jiuhui stated that through the construction of a "digital watershed", diverse digital products and knowledge transformation can be formed, which can make watershed governance more precise and efficient, and gradually achieve intelligent control.

Wang Qiao, an academician of the CAE Member, the International Academy of Astronautics, and a researcher of the Satellite Application Center of the Ministry of Ecological Environment, believes that historic progress has been made in water environment protection in China's river basins, and the physical and chemical indicators of water environment have approached the level of developed countries. However, the problem of imbalance and disharmony remains prominent, with deep-seated issues such as water ecological imbalance, insufficient ecological water use, decreased biodiversity, partial loss of aquatic habitats, degradation of aquatic ecosystem structure and function, increased water ecological risks, and worsening non-point source pollution urgently needing to be addressed. It is urgent to achieve a transition from water environmental quality to water ecological health management.

World Success Experience Exhibition

Academician Qu Jiuhui used international and domestic cases of green watershed construction as references to summarize the common characteristics of green watersheds, namely eliminating pollution, excellent water quality, rich biodiversity, healthy ecosystems, and natural landscapes. At present, there are already exemplary watershed management practices in the world, including the management of the Seine River in France, which is guided by ecological protection and economic development, and is committed to improving water quality and promoting sustainable urban development; The revitalization and renovation of Cheonggye River in South Korea is the largest municipal project in Seoul's 600 year history, and is considered by the world urban planning community as the "true beginning of the 21st century urban revolution"; The Emscher River Restoration Project in Germany combines river water management and river and shoreline restoration to create a German landscape river with industrial and artistic characteristics, which is a model of ecological transformation in traditional industrial areas; Onondaga Lake, known as the "most polluted lake in the United States," has become a representative of the transition from confrontation to cooperation between businesses, residents, and governments, and from decline to revival by introducing green and low-carbon protection measures and carrying out environmental protection and cleaning and restoration work; The Thames River in the UK has been polluted for 10 years and treated for 100 years, investing billions of pounds to complete the "Great Revolution in Water Industry Management", becoming the world's first industrialized and urbanized country for watershed management; The Nanming River in Guiyang, Guizhou, China, is the world's first successful practice of urban scale distributed sinking regenerated water ecosystem technology, achieving the governance goal of "clear water, green banks, and shallow bottom fish" in just 8 years.

Glen Daigger, a member of the American Academy of Engineering and a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, focuses on advanced management of urban water resources with the core concepts of "One Water" and "Resource Recovery". Green watersheds are closely related to urban water resource management. He emphasized the need to follow three priority principles, namely alleviating water resource pressure, improving water resource utilization efficiency, and ensuring national water quality safety. He also stated that China has made great efforts to achieve water resource equality.

The Chinese solution for green watershed governance

Watershed management has always been a global challenge, and the management of Nanming River has gone through a difficult process from "worrying about water" to "optimizing water". At the beginning of this century, Nanming River was a "lifeless" black and odorous river, trapped in a stalemate of "repeated treatment and pollution". In order to thoroughly rectify the pollution problem, Guiyang City has introduced a systematic governance approach, adhering to the comprehensive governance of the Nanming River Basin through the integration of the entire basin and its tributaries. The principles of "government leadership, mechanism innovation, legal governance, technological support, public participation, and long-term clean governance" have been formulated, changing the previous governance model of "treating the head when it hurts and treating the foot when it hurts", and shifting from "symptomatic" to "fundamental". Nowadays, Nanming River has become a green watershed with good ecology, efficient management, public participation, and technological innovation.

Li Yuanyuan, Vice President of the Water Resources and Hydropower Planning and Design Institute of the Ministry of Water Resources, pointed out that in establishing a modern water governance system, the requirements of basin planning and governance management in the new era must adhere to the concept of basin system and strengthen the "four unifications" of basin: unified planning, unified governance, unified scheduling, and unified management.

Eight years ago, when the Nanming River was being managed, there were no national standards or successful precedents. Thanks to the government's high attention to environmental governance and strong support for technological innovation, China has embarked on its own path of distributed sinking and regenerating water ecosystems, "said Dr. Hou Feng, Chairman of China Water Environment Group.

Biological integrity is the core element of ecological integrity in green watersheds. The Nanming River not only has a river and water, fish and grass, harmonious human and water, but also restored a complete ecosystem. After treatment, the biodiversity of the Nanming River has significantly increased, with rare wild waterbirds coming to the river. There are over 10 species of aquatic plants and 29 dominant fish species from 9 families, an increase of more than 10 species compared to high pollution levels in history. The number of benthic animals has reached 33 genera and species, and the coverage rate of submerged plants has increased from 35% to 80%.

Hu Peng, Director of the Water Ecological Environment Research Office at the Water Resources Institute of the China Academy of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, stated that cities should be given civilization, while rivers should be given wildness. In the future, measures should be implemented to improve the functional diversity of river systems and the wildness of rivers, protect wild rivers, provide the closest water quality standards to nature, and protect aquatic biodiversity.

Nanming River is committed to creating a low-carbon and green watershed, integrating ecological landscape river channels, water resource regeneration and recycling, and collaborative sustainable development goals of pollution reduction and carbon reduction. This is also a common goal for the management of mother river channels in every city in the future, "said Hou Feng.