The ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin is a complex system project, and some major issues should be studied and scientifically proven during the preparation of the planning outline.
On January 26, 2022, a seminar on “Water Conservancy Project and Ecological Security” was held by China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF), with experts and representatives from government departments, research institutes, social organizations and other related fields as attendees, and the construction of water conservancy projects in the Heishanxia River as the starting point.
Heshan Gorge is one of the famous gorges in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, located at the junction of Gansu and Ningxia, with a total length of 71km from Damiao Village in Jingyuan County, Gansu Province to Nan Xiaowan Village in Zhongwei County, Ningxia Province. The Yellow River enters the desert and semi-desert area through Qingtongxia Gorge, and the river becomes gentle, with a large strip of alluvial plains on both sides.
Discussions on this topic have continued for 70 years since the construction of the Heisanxia Water Conservancy Project was first proposed in the 1950s. In his speech, Dr. Zhou Jinfeng, Secretary-General of CBCGDF, said that the impact of a major water conservancy project on the entire Yellow River Basin would be enormous. The Heshan Gorge project will cause serious damage to the ecological environment, especially biodiversity, and biodiversity conservation is supposed to be a top priority. The unique ecosystem of the Heshan Gorge will be difficult to recover once it is destroyed, and respecting the natural ecology is the key to conservation.
The conference focused on topics such as socio-economic development and ecological environmental protection, population and water resources. Huang Chengde, director of Guiyang Public Environmental Education Center; Shao Wenjie, Yellow River Fish (pseudonym) and Tao Siming, environmental volunteers; Chai Erhong, geography teacher of No.6 Middle School in Gansu Province, and Wang Yongchen, founder of Green Home and planner of the Yellow River Ten-Year Walk, combined their long-term field research and production on the Yellow River, meticulously shared the situation of the Yellow River basin, especially the middle and upper reaches, from the perspectives of biodiversity conservation, fish migration, agricultural production, history and humanity.
Ma Yong, deputy secretary-general of CBCGDF, said in his concluding remarks that in the context of ecological civilization in the new era, the development of large-scale water conservancy projects and their impacts need further demonstration in order to promote the overall high-quality development of the country. It is expected that relevant departments will also actively participate in the interaction and discussion, and that the modern governance system of party committee leadership, government leadership, enterprises, social organizations and public participation will also be fully reflected in the construction of major engineering projects.
As a national society in innovative and comprehensive cross-cutting fields, CBCGDF welcomes participants to fully elaborate their views and positions, and to have a collision of views and a hundred schools of thought. We believe that the fuller the discussion and voice, the more it will help to arrive at scientific arguments, and the Yellow River’s high-quality development will be more adequately guaranteed. This meeting as the first step of concern and discussion on the construction of the Heishanxia Water Conservancy Project, the next CBCGDF will organize more seminars and exchanges, to bring together the views of all parties, to provide more paths and solutions for the scientific demonstration of the relationship between the construction of water conservancy projects and ecological protection.
Original Chinese Article: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/_FUpBEo3KD1cMQVLCr_s_Q
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