One of China's Most Important Rivers is Under Threat

Nearly five years after Xi’s declaration, the Yangtze River Protection Law passed in December 2020 by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s top legislature, and came into effect on March 1, 2021. With 96 provisions spanning nine chapters, the landmark law aims to overcome some longstanding challenges, which impeded previous efforts to protect the Yangtze River. 

For example, the Yangtze River was traditionally managed through a vast and bureaucratic structure. Water management across its basin involves more than 30 laws, which grant 76 functions to 15 different central government agencies. This is complicated because the river runs through the jurisdiction of 19 provincial governments, to which about 100 functions are delegated. The lack of systemic and comprehensive management meant that these laws were ineffective. The Yangtze River Protection Law differs from existing laws on water issues as it promotes the protection and management of ecosystems and natural resources across the entire basin. 

The law imposes various bans and restrictions on activities that cause environmental harm and pollution, and introduces heavier punishment for violations. It states that a national coordination mechanism will guide and coordinate the Yangtze protection work, and it demarcates responsibilities for all parties and clarifies the relationships between central and local governments and different government agencies. 

The new law will support China’s efforts to tackle climate change and meet its commitment under the Paris Agreement. As the Yangtze River Basin accounts for 45% of the nation's total economy, greening and decarbonizing economic activity along the basin will play a decisive role in meeting the nation’s goal of reaching peak carbon by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060.

Estimates say that through strict protection and upgrading development, the Yangtze River Basin could account for over half of China's economy by 2025 or by 2030 at the latest.

Estimates say that through strict protection and upgrading development, the Yangtze River Basin could account for over half of China's economy by 2025 or by 2030 at the latest. The Yangtze River is Asia’s longest river and the third-longest in the world. From its source in the ice-covered Tagula Mountains on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, it flows east almost 6,300 kilometers to Shanghai and the East China Sea, connecting 11 provinces and municipalities: Qinghai, Tibet, Yunnan, Sichuan, Chongqing, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui, Jiangsu, and Shanghai. Its tributaries stretch to another eight provinces, namely Gansu, Shaanxi, Henan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Guangdong, Fujian, and Zhejiang. 

As one of the two so-called Mother Rivers in China (the other being the Yellow River), the Yangtze River's drainage basin covers a fifth of China's land area with rich biodiversity, mineral and water resources, and magnificently disparate landscapes and cultures. The Yangtze basin provides about half of all the fish eaten in China and two-thirds of the rice. It feeds 42.91 percent of China's overall population and contributes to 44.76 percent of China's economy in 2019.

The Yangtze River's drainage basin covers a fifth of China's land area with rich biodiversity, mineral and water resources, and magnificently disparate landscapes and cultures.

However, after decades of rapid economic development and overexploitation, the river has been stained by years of pollution, and its biological resources are depleting. There are almost 50,000 dams or sluice gates on the Yangtze, and only Poyang, Dongting, and Shijiu lakes remain dam and sluice-free. There are over 400,000 chemical enterprises, five major iron-steel complexes, seven leading oil refineries and mega-sized petrochemical works in Shanghai, Nanjing, and Yizhen, and over 6,000 sewage outlets to the river, with 40 billion tons (51 percent of the nation's total) of industrial wastewater being emitted into the river every year. 

Overfishing and pollution have long threatened aquatic wildlife and depleted fish stocks. The river’s biological integrity index has reached the worst “No-fish” level. According to WWF’s  Living Yangtze Report 2020 , two fish species are already extinct; two are extinct in the wild; and 61 of its freshwater fish species remain threatened. Fish catches have plummeted from 430,000 tons in 1954 to only 80,000 tons in 2011. 

Today, climate change is adding a new threat to the river ecosystem by causing more droughts, floods, and extreme weather events, and more of the Yangtze’s lakes are drying up. With the new law enforcement, the Chinese government has demonstrated a clear determination to protect the Yangtze River. One of the first actions to restore the river’s ecology was initiating a ten-year fishing ban from 2020 at over 332 conservation sites along the river. The ban was extended from January 1, 2021, to cover all the river's natural waterways, including its major tributaries and lakes, as well as areas in its estuary newly designated by the law. The basin-wide ban gives hope that the fish populations will recover over time. 

The law sets an example for potential legislation relating to other watersheds. Recently, a new law to protect the Yellow River was included in the NPC’s Standing Committee's plan for 2021. Although the future Yellow River Protection Law will not necessarily be a replica of the Yangtze River Protection Law—due to different stakeholders and interests in the two river basins—many of the principles will be the same.

The law sets an example for potential legislation relating to other watersheds.

Restoring and protecting the entire Yangtze River Basin will be a long-term challenge. This new law represents a positive step in the right direction. Seeing both central and local governments increased funding to support the protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems in recent years—for example, through the establishment of the Yangtze River Green Fund—is encouraging. The next step should include mobilizing more financial resources using market-based financing mechanisms and economic incentives to attract more investment from business and social sectors. At the same time, harmful subsidies to agriculture, fishery, and industries with heavy pollution should be reduced and finally canceled in the near future.