Marine Eco-Environmental Protection in China

IV. Science-Based Conservation and Restoration of Marine Ecosystems

China coordinates and integrates the conservation and systematic restoration of marine ecosystems in a manner that respects and protects nature and follows its laws. It utilizes science-based decision-making and targeted measures that aim to safeguard eco-environmental security and improve the diversity, stability and sustainability of marine ecosystems.

1. Consolidating the shields for marine ecosystems

China was the first country in the world to propose and enforce red lines for ecological conservation. It has employed multiple means to build firm protective shields for marine ecosystems, giving sufficient time and space for the ocean to recuperate.

Creating a classification and zoning system for marine ecosystems. Classification and zoning constitute a basic model of modern marine management. Since 2019, China has been engaged in establishing such a system. It has put in place a classification framework based on biogeographic and aquatic settings and involving four groups — water column, geoform, substrate, and biotic, and taken a nested approach to zoning marine ecosystems, dividing its offshore waters into 3 first-level eco-environmental zones. These first-level zones are then divided into 22 second-level zones, which are then further divided into 53 third-level zones. In 2023, the 20 third-level offshore zones most impacted by human activity were further divided into 132 fourth-level zones.

Applying unified standards, China classifies ecosystems by level and scale to reflect its natural geographic layout, providing a foundation for understanding the basic conditions of its marine ecosystems and refining marine ecological evaluation, conservation, and restoration.

Evaluating the carrying capacity of marine resources and environment and the suitability of territorial space for development. In 2015, the Overall Plan for Reform of the System for Developing an Eco-Civilization was issued. For the first time, it set the requirement of evaluating the carrying capacity of resources and the environment, marking the beginning of such evaluation in China. In 2019, the Guidelines on the Establishment and Implementation of a Territorial Space Planning System was promulgated, requiring the orderly, coordinated, and scientific planning of various types of functional space based on evaluations of the carrying capacity of resources and the environment and the suitability of territorial space for development.

China subsequently developed a system of technologies and methods for this purpose, and completed evaluations of the carrying capacity of its marine resources and environment and suitability evaluation of territorial space for development at city, provincial, regional and national levels. The results were used for drawing red lines for marine eco-conservation and designating marine ecological space and areas for development and utilization.

Drawing red lines for marine eco-environmental conservation and strictly enforcing them. Red lines for eco-environmental conservation are an important institutional innovation and a major decision made by China. China has made systematic arrangements for key areas of marine eco-environmental conservation. Areas with extremely important eco-environmental functions, such as biodiversity and coastline protection, together with areas with highly vulnerable ecosystems due to factors such as coastal erosion, have been delimited within the red lines and given strict protection. These areas are distributed along "one belt and multiple spots"[see Panel 3].

The country has also published a series of documents that regulate the limited human activities allowed within the red lines and clarify requirements for regulation and control. Remaining firm in its commitment to eco-environmental security, China carries out red line monitoring, efficacy evaluation, and boundary demarcation, and continues to improve the spatial configuration of red lines and their long-term regulation and control mechanisms for the protection of vital environmental spaces.

Panel 3 China's Red Lines for Marine Eco-Environmental Conservation

To date, China has drawn red lines covering a total area of 150,000 sq km across several types of ecosystems, including mangrove forests, seagrass beds, coral reefs, coastal salt marshes, important estuaries, and important sea islands. They are distributed along "one belt and multiple spots".

The "one belt" runs from north to south, covering the important coastal wetlands of the Liaohe River and the Yellow River estuaries, Yancheng City of Jiangsu Province, the Yangtze River estuary, the Chongming Dongtan wetlands, Hangzhou Bay, the Pearl River and Beilun River estuaries, among others. The belt contains the majority of China's typical marine ecosystems, including 99 percent of the country's mangrove forests, 91 percent of its coral reefs, and 89 percent of its seagrass beds, thus forming a blue eco-environmental shield.

The "multiple spots" cover most of the country's undeveloped and uninhabited sea islands, habitats of rare and endangered marine species and migratory birds, and spawning sites of important fishery resources, thus offering protection to the key sites for the inhabitation and migration of living organisms.

Improving the marine protected areas system. In its marine protected areas system China includes important marine ecosystems, and natural areas with concentrations of rare and endangered marine species and natural relics and landscapes, and provides them with special protection.

Over the years, the country has established 352 marine protected areas, which protect about 93,300 sq km of sea areas, and has made preparations for 5 marine national park candidate areas. These areas focus on the protection of rare and endangered marine species such as the spotted seal and the Chinese white dolphin, typical ecosystems such as mangrove forests and coral reefs, and topographies such as ancient shell dykes and sea floor ancient forest remnants, forming a multifunctional marine protected area system with a sound layout and encompassing various forms. The marine protected areas have enabled the populations of rare marine species to recover gradually. For example, over 2,000 spotted seals — a species under first-grade state protection — spend the winter at Liaodong Bay every year and this number has remained stable for many years.

Maintaining marine biodiversity. China gives effective protection to marine life by safeguarding ecological corridors, raising species' level of protection, carrying out scientific research and monitoring, imposing fishing moratoriums in key sea areas, and conducting fish stock enhancement.

Panel 4 No "Casualty or Relocation" of White Dolphins in the Construction of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge

On October 24, 2018, the 55-km Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge opened to traffic. The bridge runs through the Chinese white dolphin reserve at the Pearl River estuary, home to the largest population of the animal, which is under first-grade state protection.

To ensure that no white dolphins were harmed or forced away during construction of the bridge, builders utilized advanced technologies from home and abroad and applied innovative construction techniques and methods during the building process. By adjusting designs, raising work efficiency, and reducing operation time at sea, they reduced the impact on marine creatures to the minimum. The bridge helps reduce sea traffic between Hong Kong and Macao by providing an alternative form of travel, effectively protecting the habitats of white dolphins and promoting the harmonious coexistence between humans and the ocean.

Continuous monitoring and surveying from 2017 to 2021 showed that the population of white dolphins at the Pearl River mouth stood at about 2,600 by the end of the five-year monitoring period, representing stable population growth.

Today, the number of recorded marine species in China has reached 28,000, accounting for about 11 percent of the global total. The National Germplasm Bank of Marine Fishery Species has collected and preserved some 140,000 samples of various biological resources, and the pace of its genetic resource collection and preservation continues to accelerate.

China carries out fish stock enhancement in nearshore areas and now releases around 30 billion fry of aquatic organisms annually. For key protected species like the Chinese white dolphin, sea turtles, corals, and spotted seals, the country has published special national protection action plans or programs, established national protection alliances, and carried out fruitful work that has resulted in stable growth of populations. Twenty coastal wetlands have been included on the List of Wetlands of International Importance, including the National Nature Reserve for Spotted Seals in Dalian of Liaoning Province and the National Nature Reserve for Sea Turtles in Huidong County of Guangdong Province.

2. Restoring marine ecosystems

China carries out major marine eco-environmental restoration projects by letting nature restore itself, with artificial restoration as a supplement. It has formed an initial restoration framework ranging from mountain tops to the ocean, guided by precise planning, guaranteed by systems, and supported by funding and infrastructure, laying firm marine eco-environmental foundations for building a beautiful China.

Taking comprehensive measures in a problem-oriented approach. China views marine ecosystems as a whole and makes accurate diagnoses of marine eco-environmental problems. On this base, it sets appropriate conservation and restoration goals and tasks and adopts targeted models such as protection and conservation, natural restoration, assisted regeneration, and eco-environmental reconstruction. It selects optimal area- and category-based restoration measures and technologies according to specific conditions of the place and time. For example, in terms of restoration priorities, estuary wetlands in the warm temperate zone were chosen for the Bohai Sea; coastal wetlands in the warm temperate zone for the Yellow Sea; estuaries, bays, and sea islands in the subtropical zone for the East China Sea; and typical coastal wetlands in the subtropical zone and tropical zone for the South China Sea.

Strengthening the supporting role of science and technology and encouraging standard-setting. China is strengthening research on the evolution and internal mechanisms of marine ecosystems, carrying out projects designed to achieve technological breakthroughs, and developing standards and norms to make eco-environmental restoration more holistic, science-based, and workable.

To form a system of standards for restoration technologies it has selected a first batch of 10 innovative and applicable marine eco-environmental restoration technologies, published the Technical Guidelines for Marine Eco-environmental Restoration along with 11 technical guides for coastal eco-environmental disaster reduction and restoration, and formulated technical manuals for the restoration of typical marine ecosystems such as mangroves, coastal salt marshes, and oyster reefs.

Strengthening financial support for restoration. Since 2016, the central government has established special funds to support coastal provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities in carrying out marine eco-environmental protection and restoration projects in key areas, including sea areas, sea islands, and coastal zones that are important to eco-environmental security and offer a wide range of eco-environmental benefits.

To promote the establishment of a market-oriented investment and financing mechanism for marine eco-conservation, it has issued the Decisions on Encouraging and Supporting Private Capital to Participate in Eco-Environmental Conservation and Restoration, which encourages and supports private capital involvement in the whole process of marine eco-environmental conservation and restoration projects, including investment, design, restoration, and maintenance. It has also introduced incentive policies to grant newly-increased construction land-use quotas to entities that have met the standards for planting mangrove trees.

Panel 5 The Xiamen Approach to Marine Eco-Environmental Restoration

Xiamen, a scenic coastal city boasting green mountains as well as blue waters, inspired Xi Jinping thought on eco-civilization and is an important pilot zone for its implementation. Its work epitomizes China's marine eco-environmental restoration efforts over more than three decades.

Starting with the comprehensive environmental improvement of the Yundang Lake in 1988, Xiamen initiated a succession of comprehensive bay area improvement projects for the western sea area, the Wuyuan Bay, the Huandong sea area, the Xinglin Bay, the Maluan Bay, and others, creating beautiful shorelines and marine eco-environmental scenery, and forming broad and pleasant urban public spaces.

The city has also carried out projects to restore the Guanyinshan and Gulangyu beaches, forming a natural barrier for local coastal protection that covers one million sq m and functions as an important area for disaster prevention and reduction, tourism and leisure, and eco-environmental services. Through city-wide inspection, full-coverage testing, and all-round tracing and whole-chain treatment, Xiamen has basically completed the rectification of 400 problematic sea-entering sewage discharge outlets across the city, fundamentally improving the water quality of its sea waters.

The city has since won a number of prestigious honors, including the UN-Habitat Scroll of Honor Award, the International Awards for Liveable Communities, and the PEMSEA Leadership Award for Integrated Coastal Management, and was included in the First Batch of National Demonstration Zones for Developing Marine Eco-Civilization.

The Xiamen Approach, which coordinates eco-environmental conservation and restoration across all elements, districts, and dimensions, is a model in building a beautiful China and maintaining harmony between humanity and the sea. It provides Chinese experience, solutions, and wisdom to addressing eco-environmental governance in bay cities, a conundrum for many countries across the globe.

Implementing major marine eco-environmental conservation and restoration projects. From 2016 to 2023, the central government lent financial support to coastal cities in implementing 175 major marine eco-environmental conservation and restoration projects, including the Blue Bay environmental improvement initiative, the ecological restoration campaign in the comprehensive management of the Bohai Sea region, the coastal zone protection and restoration project, and a special action for mangrove conservation and restoration. These projects involved 11 coastal provincial-level administrative units and received a total investment of RMB25.258 billion from the central budget, ultimately leading to the improvement and restoration of nearly 1,680 kilometers of coastline and over 50,000 ha of coastal wetlands nationwide.

China also published the Special Action Plan for the Conservation and Restoration of Mangrove Forests (2020-2025) and, by the end of 2023, had built approximately 7,000 ha of mangrove forests nationwide and restored approximately 5,600 ha. The results of the 2022 Survey of National Land-Use Changes show that the area of mangrove forests in the country stood at 29,200 ha, an increase of about 7,200 ha from the beginning of the century, making China one of the few countries in the world with a net increase in mangrove forest area.

Through these efforts, China is continuously strengthening the service functions of marine ecosystems, raising the ocean's carbon sink capacity, and building a strong eco-environmental security shield in coastal areas. It is promoting high-quality development through high-standard marine eco-environmental conservation and restoration.

3. Taking strict precautions against marine disasters

Marine disasters pose serious threats to marine ecosystems. By increasing the resilience of coastal ecosystems and strengthening the identification of, and emergency response to marine eco-environmental disaster risks, China steadily improves its capacity to prevent and mitigate marine disasters, and holds firm to the red line of marine eco-environmental security.

Strengthening coastal ecosystems against marine disasters such as typhoons and storm surges. China is among the countries most severely impacted by marine disasters. In response, it has built a three-dimensional global ocean observation network with a reasonable regional distribution, complete functions, and a complete system, achieving basic long-term operational observation of its jurisdictional waters and key waters of concern. It is progressively making marine disaster warning reporting more automatic, intelligent, precise, and cover more parts of the world, thereby providing technical support for marine disaster prevention and response.

Mangrove forests, coastal salt marshes, and other ecosystems act as natural defense lines against marine disasters, and when combined with newly-constructed eco-environmental sea dykes, they form a comprehensive protection system that synergizes ecology and disaster reduction. China now fully utilizes the disaster prevention and reduction functions of natural ecosystems and has comprehensively strengthened its coastal ecosystems against marine disasters such as typhoons and storm surges.

Increasing the capacity to prevent and control marine eco-environmental disasters. Marine eco-environmental disasters have seriously affected the social and economic development of China's coastal regions. In China, marine eco-environmental disasters are mainly local biological outbreaks such as red tides and green tides caused by Ulva prolifera.

China has developed an emergency plan for red tide disasters and strengthened its early warning and monitoring. It detects, tracks, and provides timely and accurate warnings of red tide disasters, and monitors the development and evolution trends of red tides to provide greater disaster prevention, control, and emergency response. It has carried out monitoring, early warning, prevention, and control of the Yellow Sea green tides caused by Ulva prolifera, thereby reducing their impact.

In response to population surges of bio-organisms such as jellyfish and Acetes chinensis, it monitors key areas during key periods and releases information in a timely manner.

4. Examples in building harmonious and beautiful islands

Sea islands are important platforms for protecting the marine environment and maintaining ecological balance. By focusing on individual islands or island groups, the demonstration zone creation project aims to build beautiful islands with lush vegetation, clean beaches, clear waters, bountiful resources, and harmony between humans and the environment. The ultimate goal of this project is to promote high-level conservation and high-quality development of sea island areas.

Solid progress in building demonstration zones. The initiative to build harmonious and beautiful islands started in 2022. Focusing on "a beautiful eco-environment, enjoyable life, and clean production", 36 indicators were created, covering seven areas: eco-environmental protection and restoration, resource conservation and intensive utilization, improvement of living environments, green and low-carbon development, development of specialty industries, cultural development, and institutional reform. The indicators were adopted as guidance for building demonstration zones. In 2023, 33 islands were selected as the first batch of harmonious and beautiful islands.

The leading role of ecological conservation in the project. By prioritizing eco-environmental protection, China has worked to restore its sea island eco-environments through ecological protection and restoration projects, including those concerning shorelines, islands, and aquatic plants. In coastal regions throughout the country, the use of mangrove forests, seagrass beds, and other blue carbon ecosystems as carbon sinks is actively promoted. In Shandong Province, efforts are underway to establish an international zero-carbon island in the Changdao Islands. These efforts involve issuing marine, seagrass beds, and seaweed beds carbon sink loans and exploring innovative approaches to turning marine carbon sink resources into assets.

China continues to enhance the living environment of its sea islands by improving infrastructure, including transportation, water supply and drainage, electricity, and communication facilities. Dongao Island in Guangdong Province has undergone large-scale planting of flowers, trees, and shrubs. A scenic green road encircling the island is now complete, and the construction of boardwalks along the coast is currently in progress.

China promotes integrated cultural and tourism development of sea islands. By utilizing the unique resources offered by its islands — including their sea access, rich histories, and eye-catching temples — the country hopes to strengthen its "tourism plus" model in these regions, including "tourism plus fishing", "tourism plus the countryside", "tourism plus culture". These tourism models showcase the compelling stories attached to traditional maritime culture that have been passed down through the ages and, in turn, help preserve this way of life for future generations. On Meizhou Island in Fujian Province, for example, 33 items have been designated as intangible cultural heritage items, leading to increased awareness of the Mazu culture of the area and ensuring its protection and transmission of its intangible cultural heritage.

5. Building eco-environmental coastal zones

Coastal zones are special areas where land and sea meet and interact, with rich natural resources, unique environmental conditions, and intense human activity. As the intersection of coastal areas and the sea, China's coastal zones are crucial for building a strong national eco-environmental security shield, supporting coastal economic and social development, facilitating China's connections with other countries over land and sea, promoting high-standard construction and opening up, and facilitating high-quality development.

In 2021, China proposed the construction of eco-environmental coastal zones coordinating work on land and at sea. To carry out the comprehensive evaluation of its marine eco-environmental conditions, China has developed a system of technology and methodology for eco-environmental coastal zone evaluation. To scientifically identify eco-environmental problems in coastal zones, nine evaluation indicators have been set up, covering four areas: ecosystem stability, environmental quality, sustainable resource utilization, and human safety and health. Through measures such as eco-environmental protection and restoration, building a coastal greenway network, and improving eco-environmental sea dykes, the country is working to create healthy, clean, safe, diverse, and prosperous coastal zones.