Lake's deterioration needs urgent attention

YUEYANG, Hunan - The situation on Dongting Lake, once China's largest freshwater lake, remains grim despite the growing public awareness on ecological conservation, a local environment official has warned.

"I often tell people that our mother lake is seriously ill and needs urgent attention," said Zhao Qihong, director of the administration for East Dongting Lake National Nature Reserve.

A number of factors are to blame, he said, with heavy pollution and intense human activities the two biggest culprits, while overexploitation and unscientific development has hastened the lake's deterioration.

"There will always be a conflict between preservation and development," Zhao said, explaining that many residents around the lake still rely heavily on its resources to make a living.

Extreme whether such as severe droughts and floods in recent years have also taken their toll on eco-diversity, while water projects on the Yangtze River may have led to changes in the water temperature and the lake's flux.

Authorities have stepped up protection of the lake in recent years, he said, including ordering more than 200 polluting factories to close down. Government-led projects have also helped "land" most all-year fishermen, who put a huge burden on fish stocks and whose number used to top 6,000.

To preserve diversity, especially rare species, several core areas (a total of 2,700 hectares) were set up and are subject to special management.

"Such areas will soon be expanded," said Zhao, whose department has been working closely with international organizations. "Our goal is for a systematic, fundamental restoration of the ecology."

However, he stressed that unified management and more specialized and authoritative laws are needed to fulfill that goal. More than 10 departments across three cities are involved in the administration of the lake, including those covering the environment, fisheries, construction and mining. This also creates potential conflict, Zhao said.

"Some regulations by different departments may contradict each other. In other cases, we simply can't find relevant laws," he said. "As a result, we want a comprehensive law for the Dongting Lake.

"We can only succeed when it's protected as a whole," he said.

China Daily

(China Daily 01/30/2012 page7)