A Focus on Coastal Wetlands

Human prosperity depends on healthy coastal wetlands

Life's Support System

Rainforests are often described as the lungs of the planet. If that's the case, wetlands are the kidneys—purifying water by filtering pollutants. Wetlands are found all over the world, ranging from huge river deltas, mighty estuaries, coastal mud flats, and floodplains to the Great Lakes and even peat bogs. These biologically diverse ecosystems have supported life for millennia and are essential for human health and prosperity. If we look at the first civilizations, from the Nile to Mesopotamia, they sprang up around wetlands. All over the world, wetlands continue to provide food, water, transport, leisure, and more.

Wetlands hold most of the planet’s available freshwater but are also one of the world's most biodiverse habitats, providing homes for many vital and endangered species. They provide nurseries for fish and other aquatic life. And, of course, they are service stations for millions of migratory birds to rest and refuel on their epic pan-hemispherical journeys. Many endemic species are found only in specific wetland areas, and 40 percent of plants and animals depend on these areas. There is still much to learn about wetlands—in fact, every year, around 200 new species are discovered in freshwater wetlands around the world.

Coastal wetlands—where land meets the sea and economic vibrancy intertwines with ecological vulnerability—now stand at the forefront of combating our shared challenges: safeguarding livelihoods, building climate resilience, and securing a viable future for our natural world. These wetlands are not only invaluable natural assets we must preserve but also fertile ground for bold ideas, innovative solutions, and determined action, empowering us to better tackle the twin crises of biodiversity loss and climate change.

A Focus on Wetlands in China

China’s continental coastlines extend for 18,000 km. The coastal areas are home to about 40 percent of China’s population and more than 50 percent of its large cities, accounting for about 60 percent of its GDP. Coastal wetlands of mudflats, saltmarshes, mangrove forests, and seagrass beds are critical habitats for millions of migratory waterbirds and aquatic life. They also protect cities and communities from sea-level rise and storm surges, provide sustainable local livelihoods, and store carbon, among various valuable ecosystem services.

Threats to Coastal Wetlands

Humans and nature have been on a collision course, challenging the survival of the world's most important biodiverse areas. In recent decades, rapid industrialization and economic development in China have caused a nearly 60 percent loss of coastal wetlands, putting their existence and the benefits they provide at risk. Click > at the Right for More

Habitat loss

China’s coastal wetlands have been decreasing at an alarming rate, primarily due to land reclamation and infrastructure development. According to two national wetland resource inventories, the area of coastal wetlands at risk increased 10x in the last decade—from 127,600 hectares to 1,292,800 hectares. As a result, as much as 55 percent of mangrove forests were lost between the 1950s and 2001.

Invasion of alien species

Originally introduced from North America to help tackle shoreline erosion in China, Spartina alterniflora now poses a significant threat to coastal wetlands. It is salt-resistant, submergence-tolerant, and resilient to stress. It is expanding rapidly along China’s coast, taking up valuable feeding areas for migratory birds and shellfish and severely degrading coastal wetlands.

Overfishing and aquaculture

According to the State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2022 by FAO, China’s marine fishery almost tripled in production from the 1980s to 2020, and its marine and coastal aquaculture expanded trifold between 2005 and 2020. Unfortunately, this has resulted in the depletion of fishery resources and added pollution from commercial aquaculture. Despite China’s recent efforts to limit the number of its fishing vessels and to promote sustainable aquaculture, the recovery process of damaged coastal ecosystems will be long and slow.

Environmental pollution

In 2022, the Eco-environmental State of China’s Oceans Report found that pollution in China’s oceans has improved modestly in recent years. Still, the key pollutants (COD, nitrogen, phosphorus, etc.) from inflowing rivers, industrial discharge, and municipal sewage systems remain elevated. Widespread plastic pollution (including microplastics) is also alarming. Of the 24 typical marine ecosystems monitored, only seven are categorized as healthy.

PI at Work

Beginning in 2014, the Paulson Institute collaborated with partners in and outside China to promote coastal wetland conservation and restoration. These efforts ranged from site-based demonstrations of best practices to capacity building to policy research and advocacy at the local and national levels. 

This integrated approach is essential for informing and shaping conservation policies and practices that protect China’s vital coastal wetlands, especially given the triple global crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution.

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The Blueprint:

A Roadmap for Coastal Wetland Conservation

PI’s Conservation team worked with partners to develop China’s first comprehensive national blueprint on coastal wetlands to highlight their scientific and economic value, identify conservation priorities, and make robust policy recommendations for their conservation and management.

The Blueprint:

Primary Goals and Focus:

  • Assess the status of coastal wetland conservation in China;
  • Identify threats to the critical coastal wetland ecosystems;
  • Locate key habitats for migratory waterbirds along China’s coast;
  • Establish best practices on coastal wetland conservation and management;
  • Put forward a strategy and action plan for coastal wetland conservation and management.

The Blueprint:

Priority Coastal Wetlands for Bird Protection

A key output of the Blueprint project is identifying priority coastal wetlands that warrant stronger protection, including key habitats for migratory birds. By assessing the data and existing protection system on waterbirds’ population and following the metrics and criteria used for Ramsar sites, the project team selected the top habitats for waterbirds, whose protection should be further strengthened by creating new nature reserves or expanding existing nature reserves.

The Blueprint:

The Legacy

The Blueprint Report published in 2015, for its robust scientific evidence and compelling case for coastal wetland protection, helped inform and shape the environmental policies of the Chinese government, which has since banned further commercial coastal wetland reclamation and secured critical sites for World Heritage status.

Mangrove Conservation and Restoration Strategy

A Roadmap to Protect and Restore Mangroves

Mangrove forests have been a victim of coastal development, and their rapid loss is also putting broader coastal ecosystems at risk. To help remedy this, PI launched China’s Mangrove Conservation and Restoration Strategy research in 2018 to systematically assess the state of China’s remaining mangroves, identify their key threats, pinpoint gaps in current conservation policies and actions, showcase international best practices, and propose policy recommendations. This research helped inform and pave the way for a national action plan for mangrove conservation and restoration.

China Coastal Wetland Conservation Network

A Platform to Foster Mutual Sharing and Cooperation

To promote knowledge sharing and alignment of conservation strategy and actions, PI partnered with the State Forestry Administration (now the National Forestry and Grassland Administration) to create the China Coastal Wetland Conservation Network. This platform has grown into 82 institutional members of protected areas spanning 11 coastal provinces and municipalities in China.

The Network shares knowledge, technical tools, and best management practices among members. Through annual conferences, workshops, and site visits, it also provides various training opportunities for wetland managers and officials to enhance their leadership and management capacity.

Waterbirds and Habitats Database of China’s Coasts

A Database for Logging Waterbirds and their Habitats

China’s coast provides essential stopover sites for millions of migratory waterbirds along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. However, our understanding of coastal waterbirds and their habitats in China remains partial and fragmented. To address this issue, PI, with support from the Lao Niu Foundation, worked with partners in 2018 to develop the Waterbirds and Habitats Database of China’s Coasts. This database has made it possible to assess the changes in coastal waterbird migration in China and the trends of their stress factors, identify Important Bird Areas (IBA), and evaluate the quality of key coastal waterbird habitats.

Site-based Conservation

A Bottom-up Approach to Showcase Best Practices

We believe actions speak louder than words. This is why, in addition to developing overarching conservation strategies and building extensive conservation networks, PI has worked closely with local wetland management authorities to pilot innovative conservation techniques, secure stronger legal protection status for local wetlands, and explore sustainable financing mechanisms.

Priority Sites in Progress

From north to south, PI’s efforts for coastal wetland conservation and restoration are grounded in a suite of priority sites along China’s coastline. PI works closely with local natural resource authorities, research institutes, and peer organizations to identify threats, craft strategies, pilot innovative conservation practices, secure financing, and engage the public, which together help deliver tangible and lasting results on the ground.

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Luannan Coastal Wetlands in Hebei Province

The Luannan coastal wetland, located north of Bohai Bay, is a high priority for conservation. It consists of natural intertidal mudflats, aquaculture ponds, and salt pans. The unique location and wetland resources make Luannan one of the most important stopover sites for 350,000 migratory waterbirds along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF).

Key Threats

The Luannan coastal wetland faced various threats due to a lack of legal protection that allowed pollution, over-fishing, birds caught in fishing nets, poaching, and invasion of Spartina alterniflora grass, gradually restricting the space available on the mudflats for feeding birds.

PI in Action

Creating a wildlife preserve Using a comprehensive scientific survey of the natural resources of the Luannan coastal wetland, the Paulson Institute and its partners developed an overall plan for the establishment and management of a provincial-level wetland park, securing its protected area status so that people can enjoy nature, local communities can continue to harvest shellfish sustainably for livelihoods, and waterbirds can stop over and feed.

Piloting Spartina Control

The wetland grass was initially introduced to stabilize shorelines and facilitate land reclamation but is now degrading vast swathes of wetland ecosystems.

PI and its partners tested a variety of approaches to eradicate spartina in selected areas of the Luannan coastal wetland. The results were encouraging, and the pilot's most successful techniques were recommended for treating Spartina alterniflora elsewhere along the coast in China.

Tiaozini Mudflat in Jiangsu Province

Jiangsu province boasts over 980 km of coastline and nearly one million hectares of coastal wetlands. Its intertidal mudflats, one of the largest remaining in Asia, provide priceless ecosystem services, support and maintain rich biodiversity, mitigate threats from natural disasters, store carbon, provide local livelihoods, and improve water quality.

Situated along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, these mudflats serve as a critical staging site and energy refueling station for many rare and endangered species of waterbirds—including the Spoon-billed sandpiper, Nordmann's greenshank, Bar-tailed godwit, Eurasian and Far Eastern curlew, Great knot, and Red-necked Stint.

Key Threats

Tiaozini Wetland was originally included in an extensive wetland reclamation plan in 2011. Although the reclamation was later suspended, the hydrological alternation caused by the reclamation of its adjoining coastal wetlands has some lingering impact on the mudflats. Additionally, invasive spartina represents another serious threat to these mudflats.

PI in Action

Raising Awareness Together with our partners, PI raised awareness through the Blueprint report and other channels about the significance of Tiaozinni Wetland as a critical waterbird habitat and the risks it faces.

Engaging local governments in action PI appealed to Chinese government authorities to take action to protect this crucial habitat for migratory waterbirds. For example, PI Chairman Hank Paulson met with political leaders from the Jiangsu provincial and local governments, agreeing to cooperate in coastal wetland conservation and spartina control.

Seeking Stronger Protection Status PI has encouraged and supported the local government in nominating the Yancheng Coastal Wetland for the World Heritage Site inscription, which would give this wetland a stronger protection status.

Creating enabling conditions PI continues to work with local partners in Yancheng to help improve the management and conservation of the coastal wetland World Heritage Sites and to pilot wetland mitigation banking to expand financing for wetland restoration. This includes the introduction of technical standards for wetland mitigation banking and wetland restoration guidelines, as well as the sharing of best practices from the wetland mitigation banking policies in the United States.

Wuyuanhe Wetland in Haikou

Wuyuanhe National Wetland Park, situated in the urban area of Haikou, features a complex wetland ecosystem that includes estuaries, reservoirs, rivers, and swamps with freshwater, brackish water, and saltwater areas. The park's wetlands have characteristics similar to those of savannah river wetlands, making them unique among the wetlands on Hainan Island and even in China.

In the upper reaches of the Wuyuanhe River, there are remnants of secondary tropical seasonal rainforests and tropical grasslands, providing habitats for animals and plants rarely seen in the city. The estuary section of the Wuyuanhe River is also the largest known breeding site for the Blue-tailed bee-eater (Merops philippinus) in Hainan province.

Key Threats

This wetland stretches through the city and is constantly impacted by domestic sewage, agricultural runoff, livestock grazing, and invasive plants. Destruction and degradation of vegetation have led to a decline in biodiversity and the size of the wetland. The river channel has been significantly encroached upon and silted up, raising the risk of flooding in the low-lying areas along the coast during heavy rain. In addition, illegal sand dredging threatens the habitat of the Blue-tailed bee-eaters.

PI in Action

In August 2020, the Paulson Institute, Lao Niu Foundation, Shenzhen Mangrove Conservation Foundation (MCF), and Ant Financial Services Group initiated the Ant Forest project in Wuyuanhe National Wetland Park to improve ecological protection and nature education in the region and promote long-term sustainable development for local communities through alternative livelihoods and participatory resource management.

Beidagang Wetland in Tianjin

Beidagang Wetland, a provincial-level nature reserve in coastal Tianjin, is one of the most important sites for migratory waterbirds along the East Asia-Australasian Flyway. More than half a million birds of 276 species, including many classified as vulnerable or endangered on the IUCN’s Red List, rely on this site for staging, breeding, and wintering habitats.

Key Threats

Despite its protected area status, the Beidagang Wetland has not been effectively managed and conserved due to the lack of a technical program for the long-term monitoring of biodiversity and environmental elements. The insufficient technical capacity of the local wetland management authorities impacted scientific research and monitoring, causing inadequate participation from local communities and the public in conservation decisions and actions.

PI in Action

Waterbirds and habitat monitoring With our partners, PI helped establish a monitoring program to understand the diversity, population sizes, and dynamics of waterbird species in Beidagang Wetland and its surrounding coastal wetlands. The results were shared with the management authorities to inform them of the development of a new master plan for the nature reserve.

PI in Action

Engaging local communities

PI worked closely with experts to provide training courses for the management agency’s staff and local community members, focused on long-term wetland biodiversity monitoring, bird banding, wildlife rescue, wetland management, and nature education.

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