Governance and Planning for Liao River Conservation Area · Rebuilding Shifosi Reservoir After the rebuilding, its dam rises to 13.7 m with a backwater length of 6.6 km, a water storage

Governance and Planning for Liao River

Conservation Area

Prof. Dr. Yonghui Song

Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences (CRAES)

July 9, 2014, Shenyang, China

www.themegallery.com

Contents

1. Planning and management

2. Ecological restoration

3. Biodiversity restoration

4. About the value assessment


1. Planning and management



Liaohe River System

East-Liao River

Taizi River

Neimentgu Province

Liaoning

Province

Jilin province


I-III类 IV类 V类劣V类

跨界单元

Heavily polluted in history

water quality improved


龙-dragon-water management


MWR 水利部

MEP 环保部

MHURD 住建部

NDRC 发改委

MLR 国土部

MOA 农业部

MOF 财政部

MOH 卫生部

MOT 交通部

SERC 电监会

SFA 林业局


Title in

here

Title in

here

Title in

here

Land and

resources bureau

Overall planning, centralized

management and

comprehensive protection；

Making the Liao River

governance & protection into

a new period;

Liao River has entered a new

stage of rehabilitation.

Environmental

protection

bureau

Water

resources bureau

public

security bureau

Ocean

and fishery

bureau

Transpor

tation bureau

Agriculture

bureau

Forestry

bureau

Liao River

Conservation

Area

Background of Liao River Conservation

Area (LRCA)


Fudedian-estuary, 538 km, 1869.2 km2；

Cross 4 cities, 14 counties, 68 towns.

Area of LRCA - 2010


The towns beside Liao River were managed by LRCA, including

14 counties, 104 towns, 1169 villages, 3.27 million people, with

a total area of 11169 km2.

The Liaoning province established Liaohe "three zones"

(towns, tourism, ecological) construction committee, the office

is located in the LRCA.

Area of LRCA - 2013


The main problems of Liao River-

and 4 demands

High water

quality

More water

quantity

More plants

Good

governance


12th 5-year Plan (2011-2015) objective

Flood control : ensure the stable river regime under Once-in-

Five-Years flood;

Water quality: keep IV class in 80% times of year;

Water quantity：from 100 million m3 to 300 million m3;

Wetlands： Vegetation coverage of riverside > 90%, forming a

healthy wetland ecosystem;

Biodiversity: “every rive has fishes”, more than 30 species of

fish and more than 30 species of birds;

Economy: Built 20 ecological demonstration area;

Management: Establish a relatively perfect management system.


Design of the spatial pattern

A lifeline

Two

landscape

areas

A wetlands

network

Twenty

demonstration

areas

“1122” strategy


Ecological zone planning objective

Preliminary set up ecological network: environmental security,

industrial agglomeration, habitat harmony;

Develop the ecological civilization: production mode, life style and

consumption patterns. Firmly establish the ecological civilization

concept in the river basin;

Implement the “upgrade production mode", “adjust industrial

structure", "protect the people's livelihood“ in the LRCA.

Achieve the final goal: From the “Liao river ecological zone” to

"ecological civilization demonstration zone".


2. Ecological restoration


Main methods for ecological restoration

Planning land use: provide more habitat, implement the win-

win between flood control and ecological benefit;

Restore healthy river wetland system: recover the ecological

environment and biodiversity;

Implement ecological water storage engineering and water

resources allocation, ensure basic ecological flow of Liao River;

Institutional innovation.


(1) Plan land use

Draw a 1050 m line for protection area on both sides of main

stream. Recover 410 km2, from farmland to nature land. Set

up forbidden area, recover the vegetation；

Closed 4 ferry crossings, removed 123 sand dredging

factories, demolished 173 km block water dams, removed 136

poultry farms, relocated 99 households;

Now the vegetation coverage increased from 13.7% to 63%.

Vegetation of riverside are restored to more than 90%. This

can reduce 26,000 tons of chemical fertilizer and 58 tons of

pesticide each year.

Atmospheric sedimentation of Liao River riverside decreased

61.2%, from 22.4 t/km2 in 2009 to 8.7 t/km2 in 2011.



(2) Restore the healthy river wetland system,

to protect biodiversity

Restored the riparian zone 14 km;

Constructed main tributaries estuary wetlands, 90 km2;

Constructed and restored ponds wetland groups, 7 km2;

Restored oxbow lake wetland groups, 88 km2;

Restored backwater wetlands in large area;

Built a network river wetland ecosystem with self-healing

and healthy development.


Tributaries estuary wetlands

Constructed tributaries

estuary wetlands at 31

main tributary.

Precondition: can not

affect the flood discharge

and river channel stability;

Make the wetlands as first barrier: settlement of

sediment, purify the water quality. Become a habitat of

wild animals, fish and birds.


Typical tributaries estuary wetlands:

Qixing Wetland

The wetland area is 7 km2, the depth is 1.5 m, the storage capacity is 10 million m3.

Can remove 35.3% of COD, 37.9% of ammonium, 52.9% of total phosphorus.


Oxbow lake wetlands

Constructed the oxbow lake wetland at oxbow lake, the bend

of the river, flood plain, larger island and other areas;

Rebuilt the predominantly wetland habitat types with shallow

marsh, increasing the wild animals, increase biodiversity and

landscape diversity.


Ponds wetland groups

3 0 p o n d w e t l a n d s were

constructed in Tieling, Shabaotai,

and Shifosi section. 3 pond

wetlands groups can be formed

by connect pond-pond and pond-

river through building 2-3 m wide

connecting ditches.

The pond wetlands ecological system were recovered by controlling

the underlying surface of wetlands, vegetation restoration, habitat

restoration and hydrological regulation and management.

The pond wetland can remove the suspended solids, COD and

ammonia nitrogen, increase the water storage capacity of 9.09 million

m3 and improve the ecological environment.


Demonstration Eco-regions

Fudedian in Changtu County

Dazhangqiao in Taian County

Xindiaoxian in Tieling County

Qixingshan to Shifoshi Jüliuhe River to Yubaotai


Landscapes of the demonstration eco-regions in

Liaohe Reserve


(3) Implement eco-water storage for water

resources allocation

Rendering of Benliaoliao eco-hub in Liaohe

mainstream

Built 16 eco-water storage projects in the mainstream of Liaohe River,

which can improve water quality, increase water storage capacity and

ecological wetlands.


Landscapes of eco-water storage projects in Liao

mainstream


Rebuilding Shifosi Reservoir

After the rebuilding, its dam rises to 13.7 m with a backwater length

of 6.6 km, a water storage area of 22.6 km2 and a water storage

capacity of 18.82 million m3. The project results include increasing

wetland area, improving local climate, providing good living space

for biological, especially for fish.


Eco-water diversion in low-flow period of Liao River

During low-flow period of 2013, 130 million m3 from Qihe River and

Chaihe River flew into the mainstream of Liaohe River, improving the

water quality of the mainstream, especially keeping water quality

Grade III from Zhuershan to Xingan of Panjin City.


(4) Institutional innovation: delimit reserve

region and establish management bureau

Issued “Regulations of Liao Conservation Area in Liaoning

Province”, which permits the unified management of Liao

reserve;

Set up management Bureau and police department of 4 cities

and 14 counties in the reserve, and 4-grade management system

of station, county, city and province;

Adjust affiliations and functions of 61 offices, and 11 offices, and

upgrade them to 11 river patrol station respectively;

Establishing an integrated system of management bureau and

police office in county, city and province, in order to hold the

boundary line and the “1050” line.


Restoration effects

With water quality becoming better year after year, the mainstream

reached water quality V standard in the end of 2009, and reached the

water quality IV standard in 2012. Hence the river is not a “heavily

polluted” river any more.

The river water maintains 140 million m3; more than 500 km ecological

corridor formulated; vegetation coverage in Liao conservation area

increased to 63%.


Ecology and landscape have been formed along the

river. The flood safety, water safety, ecological and

beautiful landscape have appeared in 14 counties

along the river, and natural ecological park

formulates in the river.

Compared with 2009, the species of plants, birds,

fish and macrobenthos increased by 61, 27, 6 and 95

respectively in 2012. The populations of spotted

seals increases in Liao River estuary, and river saury

migration exists.

Restoration effects


3. Biodiversity restoration


Biodiversity restoration of LRCA

The investigated results indicated that the secondary succession of

plant community became quickly;

Biological species and population increase quickly, the distribution area

expand gradually. Especially some native plant such as apocynum were

recovered. Some national endangered bird such as white stork, Chinese

merganser, whooper swans, little swan were found.

The diversity of plant community lead to diversity of food chain in the

ecosystem. The distribution and number of raptors are increasing.

Odontobutis obscura Salanx ariakensis wild soybean cygnet


Biodiversity change analysis

2011 20120

20

40

60

80

62

31

45

Num

ber

Family

Species

20

The birds diversity

2011 20120

5

10

15

20

25

20

9

15

Nu

mb

er

Family

Species

7

The fishes diversity

2011 20120

50

100

150

200

250225

58

187

Num

ber

Family

Species

43

The plants diversity






4. Thinking about the value

assessment of LRCA


Ecological value assessment of Liao Conservation Area:

The Case of Shifosi Wetlands

Wetland value assessment

42

Value type Ecological and economic benefits Assessment method

Animal and plant resources Market value method

Directly use value Water supply and storage Shadow engineering method

Research and cultural education Travelling cost method

Climate regulation Carbon tax and the cost of

afforestation

Flood regulation Shadow engineering method

Indirectly use value Degradation pollutants Ecological value method

Biodiversity Ecological value method

Non-use value Existence and heritage value Paying willingness method


Value assessment of Shifosi constructed wetland system

43

Value type Ecological and economic benefits

Service value unit/yuan

Percentage of total value

Total classification /yuan

Flora and fauna value 8.65×106 0.92

Directly use value

Water supply and storage

3.05×108 32.34 3.22×108

Research and cultural education

8.06×106 0.85

Climate regulation 8.26×107 8.76

Flood regulation 2.2×108 23.33

Indirectly use value

Degradation pollutants 6.39×107 6.78

Biodiversity 4.65×106 0.5

Non-use value Existence and heritage value

2.5×108 26.52 2.5×108

Results


Ecological value assessment demands

for LRCA

Many service functions have no real market price, therefore the value are calculated roughly;

Data are difficult to obtain, and it is difficult to assess the value of biodiversity quantitatively;

The current evaluation methods have some limitations;

How to integrate the “3 zones construction – towns, tourism, ecological” into the assessment?

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Documents

Governance and Planning for Liao River Conservation Area · Rebuilding Shifosi Reservoir After the rebuilding, its dam rises to 13.7 m with a backwater length of 6.6 km, a water storage