Wetlands in China

Version	Summary	Created by	Modification	Content Size	Created at	Operation
1		Siyuan Ye	--	3505	2022-07-17 05:21:10	\|
2	format change	Peter Tang	-1 word(s)	3504	2022-07-18 03:17:58	\|

This entry is adapted from the peer-reviewed paper 10.3390/w14071152

China has a wetland area of 53.42 million hectares, the fourth largest in the world; it includes all types of wetlands defined by the Ramsar Convention and has a carbon sink capacity of more than 1.71 million metric tons per year. Inland wetlands in China are mainly distributed in 10 major catchments, among which the Yellow River, the Yangtze River, the rivers in the northwest, and the rivers in the northeast each have more than 8 million hectares of wetlands. There are 4220 species of plants and 4015 species of animals in China’s wetland ecosystem. The wetland resources that have been developed and utilized include edible products, reeds for paper making, peat for fertilizer, fuel for power generation, and chemical, pharmaceutical, ceramic, and building materials. Wetland areas in China have shrunk by about 54% since 1980.

wetland resources function sustainable use strategies protection

1. Introduction

Wetlands, forests, grasslands, deserts, and oceans are among the major ecosystems of Earth. As a special natural complex formed through the interaction of land and water, wetlands are part and parcel of Earth’s surface sphere. Wetlands are among the most productive of Earth’s ecosystems and provide habitats for highly diverse biological communities and some of the most valuable ecosystem services on an areal basis ^[1]. Those ecological services include the regulation of water supplies, treatment of wastes, regulation of disturbances, and provision of recreational and cultural resources. It has been estimated that the economic value of global wetlands is about USD 5 trillion annually ^[1]. Realization of the value of wetlands explains why, in recent years, many countries have become proactive in identifying ways to manage wetlands sustainably.

At present, a complete, unified system for wetland definition and classification has yet to be established worldwide because of the natural variability of wetlands—their diverse causes of formation and wide distribution—as well as differences between research methods and purposes. The general system for wetland definition and classification, proposed by the Ramsar Convention and widely used by researchers in the international community, defines wetlands as “areas of marsh, fen, peatland or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish, or salt including areas of marine water, the depth of which at low tide does not exceed 6 m”. According to this definition, wetlands can be divided into three categories: marine/coastal wetlands, inland wetlands, and artificial wetlands. These three categories include 42 types of wetlands. China, which is among the countries with the most diverse types of wetlands, is the country with the fourth-largest wetland area in the world. Chinese wetlands include all the wetland types defined by the Ramsar Convention. China was among the earliest civilizations to recognize the value of wetlands in ancient times. Tao Yuanming, a scholar of the Wei and Jin Dynasties (circa AD 365–427), described in his work Peach Blossom Land that there was a “celestial peach blossom garden—wetland” at the end of the water source. There were abundant water sources, fertile soil suitable for farming, with luxuriant flowers and tweeting birds. The garden looked like a natural museum of flora and fauna. The place described in the article is now Taoyuan County in the Hunan Province of south-central China ^[2]. There were also discussions of wetlands in the Collection of Ancient and Modern Books: Kaogong Dian: people in the pre-Qin period were surprised to find that the shallow shoals and marsh waters left behind at low tide contained a mysterious power that prevented flooding and resisted bad weather ^[3]. During the Northern Wei Dynasty (A.D. 386–534), Li Daoyuan, in his annotations on the Classics of Water, recorded many details about gardens he noticed during his field trips to rivers, and he drew pictures of pre-Qin gardens and wetlands. At the same time, he also described the characteristics, valuable resources, agricultural productivity, ecological function, and the use and development of wetlands by people in the pre-Qin period ^[4].

China is also among the countries faced with the great challenge of balancing short-term interests and sustainable development when it comes to natural resource conservation. According to the results of two nationwide wetland surveys, between 2003 and 2013, the total wetland area in China decreased by almost 3.40 million hectares, a reduction of 8.8%. During this time, the natural wetland area decreased by 3.38 million hectares or 9.3% ^[5]. On the scale of the international classification of wetland ecological status, China is generally ranked at a medium level, with 15% of its wetlands rated as good, 53% as medium, and 32% as poor ^[5]. Globally, the decline of China’s wetlands is just a case in point of humankind’s inadequate stewardship of Earth’s natural resources and one example of an increase of produced capital at the expense of natural capital.

2. Wetland Loss and Drivers of Degradation

The main driving factors of wetland loss and degradation in China have been human occupation and environmental pollution, along with some natural factors such as climate change ^[6].

2.1. Climate Change

Wetlands are ecosystems that are sensitive to climate change, and climate change is expected to become an important driver of the loss and alteration of wetlands ^[7]. Climate change may affect the distribution and functions of freshwater wetlands through changes in temperature and precipitation, but the results will depend on the means of water replenishment and the regions where wetlands are located ^[8]. For example, in the Erqisi River catchment in Xinjiang, marshes and lake wetland areas have expanded naturally because the river runoff is replenished mainly by seasonal snow melt water that increases in spring and winter due to the temperature rise caused by global warming and the precipitation that increases in summer and autumn. In the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, however, there is an accelerating shrinkage of wetlands because the water for most wetlands is supplied by precipitation, which has been declining because of global climate change since the beginning of the 21st century ^[9]. Similarly, in northern China, climate change has caused a rise in temperature, a decrease in precipitation, and an increase in evaporation that has resulted in water shortage and the severe shrinkage of wetlands such as Baiyangdian Lake and the Zhalong Nature Reserve ^[10]. In addition, studies have pointed out that in the context of global warming, the wetland area in the Greater Khingan Mountains region will decline significantly: about a 30% decrease by 2050 and 60% by 2100 ^[11]. In general, the impact of climate change on inland wetlands varies between different regions and climate zones. Whether the increase in water supply caused by climate change has outpaced the rise of evapotranspiration due to temperature increases has determined whether inland freshwater wetlands have expanded or shrunk ^[8].

The distribution and services of coastal wetlands have been seriously threatened because climate change has caused a rise in sea level, an increase in sea surface temperature, a decrease in ocean pH, and increased damage from storm surges ^[12]^[13]. According to the 6th IPCC assessment report, the melting of ice sheets, caused by global warming, will make the average global sea level rise by as much as two meters by 2100 and five meters by 2150 ^[14]. If coastal wetlands do not accrete at the same rate, coastal wetlands will gradually disappear because of increasingly severe flooding, erosion, and saltwater intrusion ^[7]^[15]^[16]^[17]. It has been estimated that half of the wetlands of international importance, designated by the Wetland Convention, will be threatened if the sea level rises by even one meter ^[18]. Data show that the sea level along China’s coastlines rose at a rate of 3.2 mm per year from 1980 to 2016, higher than the global average during the same period ^[19]. Predictions of possible sea-level rises and the submergence of areas have been made by analysis of regional differences and sea-level changes in China’s coastal plains during recent decades ^[20]^[21]. Those predictions have suggested that the areas most vulnerable to coastal disasters are the following: the Yellow River Delta (including ancient, modern, and abandoned areas), the coastal areas of Laizhou Bay, the coastal areas of northern Jiangsu province, the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, and the coastal areas of western Taiwan. The total area of threatened land has been estimated to be about 3.5 million hectares. Apart from the impact of sea-level rise, the rise of seawater temperature and decrease of pH brought about by climate change also threaten the ecological environment of coastal wetlands ^[22]^[23]. For example, in the 1998 ENSO event, the abnormal rise of seawater temperature killed 16% of corals globally, including corals in the Dongsha atoll lagoon in the South China Sea ^[24]. Corals are sensitive to water temperature changes and have difficulty surviving in seawater above a temperature of 30 °C. Some studies have shown that by the end of the 21st century, the average annual surface temperature in the Pearl River Basin will have risen by 1.9–3.4 °C, and the higher temperatures will pose a serious threat to many corals ^[25]. In addition, frequent extreme weather in the context of climate change may cause the physical erosion and destruction of wetlands ^[26]. The increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather disasters, such as low-temperature events in southern China in 2008 and tropical cyclones and typhoons from 1961 to 2010, have caused damage to large areas of mangrove wetlands ^[24]^[27].

2.2. Urbanization and Change of Land Use

With population increase and rapid economic and social development, more and more wetlands have been reclaimed for urban and commercial development to meet the ever-growing demand for food, housing, and business activity. At present, reclamation, urban development, and other changes of wetland use have led to significant natural wetland shrinkage and loss of wetland services ^[28]^[29]. For example, from the beginning of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, a large-scale reclamation of lake wetlands was carried out to meet the need for food production and flood control. In the past half a century, the total area of natural inland wetlands in China has been reduced by about 13.5 million hectares. About 81% of that loss was caused by land reclamation and development on what had previously been lakes ^[5]. The area of riverine wetlands has declined because of a lack of planning, inadequate protection, and the construction of dams. The construction of some water conservation projects has blocked the conduits between natural rivers and wetlands, including lakes, and unregulated upstream diversions for irrigation as well as industrial and urban use have led to the rapid, widespread loss and fragmentation of inland wetlands. For example, the complete desiccation of the lower reaches of the Tarim River, Heihe River, and other important inland rivers has led to the death of vegetation and the disappearance of oases. These losses have resulted from unreasonable use of water resources. Wetland marshes have also suffered historically from reclamation and development projects ^[30]. The marshes in the Sanjiang Plain are good examples. After more than 50 years of development, the area of those wetlands has decreased to 906,900 hectares in 2000 from 5.34 million hectares in 1949, while its arable land area has increased to ~3.67 million hectares in 1996 from 796,000 hectares in 1949 ^[31]. The plateau wetland area, which is one of two areas in China where marshes are concentrated, has escaped large-scale reclamation, but tourism and urban development have taken a toll on wetland area and quality. The construction of roads, railways, and other linear infrastructure across the area has fragmented it and exacerbated the loss of wetlands. China’s offshore and coastal natural wetlands have been in shrinking because of large-scale reclamation of coastal land, extensive nearshore aquaculture, evaporation ponds for salt recovery, as well as port and wharf development. Rapid economic development in coastal areas has led to increasing demand for land, especially since the 21st century ^[5]^[32]. According to statistical summaries of the types and areas of nationwide coastal wetlands in 1975, 2000, and 2017, issued by the China Geological Survey, the total area of coastal wetlands in China (excluding Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan) was 89,821 km² in 1975, 85,972 km² in 2000, and 83,561 km² in 2017. The area of natural coastal wetlands in China was about 21,394 km² in 1975, 14,905 km² in 2000, and only 9862 km² in 2017 ^[32].

2.3. Environmental Pollution

A large number of studies have shown that environmental pollution has posed a very serious threat to China’s wetlands ^[33]. As water catchments, wetlands have been used as receptacles for large amounts of untreated domestic sewage, industrial wastewater, and agricultural runoff containing pesticides, fertilizers, and herbicides. The degree of pollution has gone well beyond the wetland tolerance threshold, disrupted wetland biodiversity, and caused a serious loss of wetland ecological services ^[34]. Before the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012, pollution of offshore and coastal wetlands was also severe because of sewage discharges, mariculture, oil pollution, and cultural eutrophication associated with pollutants containing inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus. From Liaodong Bay and Bohai Bay to the coastal areas of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, and other regions, frequent red tides have caused serious damage to the coastal landscape, reduced the resilience of the wetlands to perturbations, and decreased wetland biodiversity. Cultural eutrophication caused by large-scale aquaculture has caused the roots of wetland plants to be shallower and, hence, more prone to uprooting by storm surges. Coastal erosion and wetland shrinkage have, therefore, become serious problems ^[32]^[35].

3. Implications for Carbon Neutrality in China

Research has shown that in order to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, China must work to keep its annual CO₂ emissions from energy use below 500 million tons and non-CO₂ greenhouse gases and industrial emissions below 1 billion tons; China must also concomitantly remove about 1.5 billion tons of carbon via sequestration and geoengineering technologies ^[36]. The implication is that China will need to fill an annual carbon gap of 410 million tons ^[36]. Wetlands are ideal carbon sinks thanks to their high carbon sequestration rates and high primary productivity. Based on the carbon sequestration rate given by Wang et al. ^[37], the annual carbon sequestration of Chinese is 92.6 million tons, about 22.6% of the total gap. An important consideration is that 53.9% of Chinese coastal wetlands were degraded from 1975 to 2017. Ye et al. ^[32] have concluded that natural processes did not lead to a significant decrease in wetland area and that the continuous expansion of aquaculture and construction of ports and dams were mainly responsible for the degradation of the natural wetlands of China during that time. The degradation rate of Chinese coastal wetlands is typical of all the wetlands in China. If the area of Chinese wetlands could be restored to the pre-1975 area, the annual carbon sequestration would be 171 million tons or 42% of the gap of 410 million tons of carbon. The wetlands of China could, therefore, play a critical role in realizing the goal of carbon neutrality by 2060.

4. Problems in the Development and Utilization of Wetlands

China is presently making good progress toward wetland development and utilization, but under-development and over-utilization continue to be problems. A sound vision and correct understanding of sustainable utilization must be embraced. Many individuals and groups have sought to exploit Chinese wetlands at the cost of sustainable development. The result has been over-exploitation, despite repeated regulatory efforts. In wetland fisheries, overuse or even predatory utilization is commonplace. For example, according to data from the first and second wetland surveys, the number of species of indigenous fish in Guangdong decreased by 186 species, almost 30% of the total number of species in only 10 years ^[38]^[39]. Such excessive consumption has led to the depletion of wetland wild fish stocks, threatened biodiversity and ecological balance, and, ultimately, devastated natural fishery resources ^[40]. China’s wetlands are under-developed because of insufficient scientific and technological support and a lack of managerial foresight. Relevant research projects are few in number, small in scale, and outdated in terms of technology. The result has been an unnecessary waste of precious resources ^[5]. For example, China has 4200 species of higher wetland plants and 2312 species of wetland vertebrates. Among these species are hundreds that could be utilized or have the potential for development as biological resources. However, only about 100 species are used on a regular basis, and a large number of species are underdeveloped resources ^[5]. In addition, aquatic vegetables are abundant in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and have a long cultivation history, but they are still in the initial stages of utilization. Management is poor, and most operations are small in scale. At the moment, most wetland products in Chinese markets are primary, lacking deep processing and comprehensive utilization.

Finally, the invasion of alien species such as Eichhornia crassipes, Ampullaria crossean, and Procambarus clarkii has alerted Chinese authorities to the need for the protection and sustainable utilization of China’s wetland resources. These invasive alien species have brought obvious harm to many areas and are great ecological threats ^[5]^[41]^[42].

5. Problems in Wetland Protection

Although China has made remarkable progress in wetland protection, which protected 49% of Chinese wetlands by the end of 2018 ^[32], there is still a long, hard journey to protect the other 51% and even expand wetland areas. Compared with the protection of other traditional ecological systems such as forests, seas, and grasslands, wetland protection work started relatively late. Relevant laws and policies need to be refined, and publicity and education about wetlands are still inadequate. Some localities and departments have focused too much on economic returns and less on ecological well-being. There has been a failure to strike a balance between wetland protection and utilization.

China must raise public awareness of the need for wetland protection. Most of China’s tourist-oriented wetlands, and even national wetland parks, lack relevant publicity and educational posters, facilities, and activities. According to surveys, only 25% of the public in China have some knowledge about wetlands, and many believe that wetlands are unused land and are inexhaustible ^[5]. It is worth noting that some local government leaders know little about the great value and important role of wetlands and, thus, have done nothing to protect them. The blind pursuit of short-term profits at the expense of wetlands has led to wetland reclamation, occupation, and unreasonable use. In addition, many wetland restoration projects have turned out to be ornamental landscapes without ecological restoration functions. A significant problem is the lack of scientific and technological support for wetland protection and management. After many years of field surveys, the authors discovered that the restoration of the Panjin Red Beach was misguided because the natural succession of vegetation during the progradation of the delta was mistaken as wetland degradation. In the Yellow River Delta, the oil wells Kandong 12 and Lao 168 were indiscriminately closed because of a failure to distinguish the geological process of wetland degradation from the factors induced by human activities. This failure caused huge and immediate economic losses. In the Yancheng Red-Crowned Crane Nature Reserve, Jiangsu Province, the restoration of Suaeda heteroptera vegetation failed repeatedly because of inappropriate habitat selection. In returning fishing/farmland to wetlands, permanent farmlands nearby coastal wetlands were wrongly classified as the object of protection. This mistake greatly constrained local economic growth. It is, therefore, essential to strengthen the comprehensive, multidisciplinary research of Earth systems and to expound on and demonstrate the law of formation, evolution, and decline of wetlands from multi-dimensional perspectives so as to formulate a sound, sustainable, eco-science-based conservation scheme that meets the requirements of social and economic development.

6. Solutions for Wetland Protection

As an indispensable material and environmental basis for human life and social progress, wise stewardship of wetlands will be required for global sustainable development. Over a long time, although China and most other countries have adopted numerous policies and measures to protect them, most wetlands have been degraded ^[43]. One of the main reasons for this is that wetland conservation has been forced to give way to economic growth. China is a developing country with the world’s largest population and a rather low per capita share of natural resources. In the past 50 years, faced with rapid population and economic growth, China has accelerated the use of wetland resources in agricultural irrigation, production, aquaculture, and urban development to derive economic benefits and improve living standards. At the same time, the imbalance between wetland ecological protection and socioeconomic development has become increasingly apparent ^[44]^[45]. Therefore, in developing countries, in addition to following strict ecological laws (natural science) for wetland protection, it is critical to formulate a sound, sustainable, eco-science-based wetland conservation plan that meets the requirements of social and economic development. Economic and social conditions must be taken into account in solving environmental problems (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Concept of wetland protection in developing countries. In addition to following strict ecological laws (natural science), economic and social conditions must be taken into account in solving environmental problems.

A primary requirement for wetland protection will be knowledge gained from comprehensive investigation and research. On the one hand, permanent monitoring stations and networks must be well established to study the ecological problems of wetlands in real-time. On the other hand, in-depth studies must be conducted on hotspot scientific issues related to wetland stability in ways that inform restoration projects. In particular, given China’s large population and shortage of resources, research on the development and utilization of wetlands must be carried out in line with the different geographical conditions of the wetlands. Potentials of renewable wetland resources must be identified and consideration given to their use for treating polluted water, producing food, supplying industrial raw materials, controlling flooding and erosion, and serving as recreational resources. The type and scale of economic activities must be assessed (Figure 1).

References

Costanza, R.; d’Arge, R.; de Groot, R.; Farber, S.; Grasso, M.; Hannon, B.; Limburg, K.; Naeem, S.; O’Neill, R.V.; Paruelo, J.; et al. The value of the world’s ecosystem services and natural capital. Nature 1997, 387, 253–260.
Tao, Y. Tao Yuanming Collection; Zhonghua Book Company: Beijing, China, 1979.
Chen, M. Collection of Ancient and Modern Books; QiLu Press: Beijing, China, 2006.
Li, D. Classics of Water; Huaxia Publishing House: Beijing, China, 2006.
The State Forestry Administration of The Peoples’s Republic of China. China Wetlands Resources·Master Volume; China Forestry Publishing House: Beijing, China, 2015.
An, S.; Zhang, X.; Zhang, H.; Shen, M.; Wang, Y.; Chen, J. A strategic study on wetland restoration and conservation in China. Wetl. Sci. Manag. 2021, 15, 41–44.
Mitsch, W.J.; Gosselink, J.G. Wetlands, 4th ed.; John Wiley & Sons, Inc.: Hoboken, NJ, USA, 2007.
Meng, H.; Wang, L.; Zhang, Z.; Xue, Z.; Lu, X.; Zou, Y. Researches on the impacts of climate change on spatial distribution and main ecological functions of inland wetland ecosystem in China. Wetl. Sci. 2016, 47, 7–10.
Yang, H.; Wang, Y.; Wu, J. Remote sensing monitoring and analysis of wetland in Irtysh River Basin during the period from 1990 to 2010. Adv. Sci. Technol. Water 2012, 32, 22–26.
Zhang, Z.; Xue, Z.; LYU, X. Quantitatively analysis of impact of climate change on areas of mires. Wetl. Sci. 2015, 13, 161–165.
Liu, H.; Bu, R.; Liu, J.; Leng, W.; Hu, Y.; Yang, L.; Liu, H. Predicting the wetland distributions under climate warming in the Great Xing’an Mountains, northeastern China. Ecol. Res. 2011, 26, 605–613.
Feng, C.; Su, X.; Liu, J.; Bing, L.; Gang, L. Coastal erosion in China under the condition of global climate change and measures for its prevention. Prog. Nat. Sci. 2009, 19, 415–426.
Li, X.; Bellerby, R.; Craft, C.; Widney, S.E. Coastal wetland loss, consequences, and challenges for restoration. Anthr. Coasts 2018, 1, 1–15.
IPCC Summary for policymakers. In Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK, 2021.
Ye, S.; Laws, E.A.; Yuknis, N.; Ding, X.; Yuan, H.; Zhao, G.; Wang, J.; Yu, X.; Pei, S.; DeLaune, R.D. Carbon sequestration and soil accretion in coastal wetland communities of the Yellow River Delta and Liaohe Delta, China. Estuaries Coasts 2015, 38, 1885–1897.
Kirwan, M.L.; Temmerman, S.; Skeehan, E.E.; Guntenspergen, G.R.; Fagherazzi, S. Overestimation of marsh vulnerability to sea level rise. Nat. Clim. Change 2016, 6, 253–260.
Perillo, G.M.E.; Wolanski, E.; Cahoon, D.R.; Hopkinson, C.S. Coastal Wetlands: An Integrated Ecosystem Approach; Candice Janco: Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2018.
Nicholls, R.J. Coastal flooding and wetland loss in the 21st century: Changes under the SRES climate and socio-economic scenarios. Glob. Environ. Change 2004, 14, 69–86.
State Oceanic Administration. China sea level bulletin 2016. Ocean World 2017, 4, 31–39.
Yang, G.; Shi, Y. Advances in relative sea level rise and its impacts in the coast of China. Adv. Earth Sci. 1995, 10, 475–482.
Yang, G. Coastal Environmental Change and Its Regional Response in China; Higher Education Press: Beijing, China, 2002.
Du, Y.; Cheng, X.; Wang, X.; Ai, H.; Duan, H.; He, J.; Wu, X. A review of assessment and adaptation strategy to climate change impacts on the coastal areas in south China. Adv. Clim. Change Res. 2013, 4, 201–207.
Lei, Y.; Cui, L.; Li, W.; Kang, X.; Zhang, M.; Yang, Y.; Xiao, H. Impacts of climate change on coastal wetlands in China and countermeasures. Wetl. Sci. Manag. 2021, 12, 59–62.
Du, Y.; Ai, H.; Duan, H.; Hu, Y.; Wang, X.; He, J.; Wu, H.; Wu, X. Changes in climate factors and extreme climate events in South China during 1961–2010. Adv. Clim. Change Res. 2013, 4, 1–11.
Yu, K.; Jiang, M.; Cheng, Z.; Chen, T. Latest forty two years’ sea surface temperature change of Weizhou Island and its influence on coral reef ecosystem. Chin. J. Appl. Ecol. 2004, 15, 506–510.
Gilman, E.L.; Ellison, J.; Duke, N.C.; Field, C. Threats to mangroves from climate change and adaptation options: A review. Aquat. Bot. 2008, 89, 237–250.
Chen, L.; Wang, W.; Zhang, Y.; Huang, L.; Zhao, C.; Yang, S.; Yang, Z.; Chen, Y.; Xu, H.; Zhong, C.; et al. Damage to mangroves from extreme cold in early 2008 in southern China. Chin. J. Plant Ecol. 2010, 34, 186–194.
The State Forestry Administration of The Peoples’s Republic of China. China Wetland Protection Action Plan; China Forestry Publishing House: Beijing, China, 2000.
Yang, B.; Yao, C.; Yan, C.; Wang, F. Wetland conservation in China: Achievements, problems and development strategies. China Dev. 2011, 11, 1–6.
Zhao, K. Marshes of China; Science Press: Beijing, China, 1999.
Wang, A.; Zhang, S.; He, Y. Study on dynamic change of mire in Sanjiang Plain based on RS and GIS. Sci. Geogr. Sin. 2002, 22, 636–640.
Ye, S.; Xie, L.; He, L. Wetlands—The Kidney of the Earth & a Boat of Life; Science Press: Beijing, China, 2021.
The State Forestry Administration of The Peoples’s Republic of China. Results of the Second National Wetland Resource Survey. 2014. Available online: http://www.forestry.gov.cn/main/65/20140128/758154.html (accessed on 1 January 2022).
Lei, K.; Zhang, M. The wetland resource in China and the conservation advices. Wetl. Sci. 2005, 3, 81–86.
Deegan, L.A.; Johnson, D.S.; Warren, R.S.; Peterson, B.J.; Fleeger, J.W.; Fagherazzi, S.; Wollheim, W.M. Coastal eutrophication as a driver of salt marsh loss. Nature 2012, 490, 388–392.
Huang, J. China’s goal of carbon neutrality by 2060 needs to be reinforced by science and technology. China Sustain. Trib. 2020, 10, 15–16.
Wang, F.; Sanders, C.J.; Santos, I.R.; Tang, J.; Schuerch, M.; Kirwan, M.L.; Kopp, R.E.; Zhu, K.; Li, X.; Yuan, J. Global blue carbon accumulation in tidal wetlands increases with climate change. Natl. Sci. Rev. 2021, 8, nwaa296.
Forestry Administration of Guangdong Province. Survey Report on Wetland Resources in Guangdong Province. 2001.
The State Forestry Administration of The Peoples’s Republic of China. China Wetlands Resources·Guangdong Volume; China Forestry Publishing House: Beijing, China, 2015.
Qu, M.; Hu, Y. The utilization status and sustainable development strategy of wetland resources in Guangdong. Cent. South For. Inventory Plan. 2015, 34, 18–21.
Fang, L. Impact of Herbivory by Invasive Apple Snail (Pomacea canaliculata) on Wetland Aquatic Plants and Nutrients in Water Body; Sun Yat-sen University: Guangdong, China, 2011.
Xiao, Z.; Shu, F. Distribution, harm and control of main invasive alien species in Hongjiang. Hunan Agric. Sci. 2015, 7, 21–23.
Wang, Y.; Yao, Y.; Ju, M. Wise use of wetlands: Current state of protection and utilization of Chinese wetlands and recommendations for improvement. Environ. Manag. 2008, 41, 793–808.
Shi, C.; Hutchinson, S.M.; Yu, L.; Xu, S. Towards a sustainable coast: An integrated coastal zone management framework for Shanghai, People’s Republic of China. Ocean Coast. Manag. 2001, 44, 411–427.
Hai, R.; Jian, S.; Lu, H.; Zhang, Q.; Shen, W.; Han, W.; Yin, Z.; Guo, Q. Restoration of mangrove plantations and colonisation by native species in Leizhou bay, South China. Ecol. Res. 2008, 23, 401–407.

© Text is available under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Upload a video for this entry

Information

Subjects: Environmental Sciences

Contributors MDPI registered users' name will be linked to their SciProfiles pages. To register with us, please refer to https://encyclopedia.pub/register :

Siyuan Ye

Lixin Pei

Lei He

Liujuan Xie

Guangming Zhao

Hongming Yuan

Xigui Ding

Shaofeng Pei

Shixiong Yang

Xue Li

Edward A. Laws

View Times: 1.0K

Update Date: 18 Jul 2022

Table of Contents

Video Upload Options

Confirm