Ministry of Ecology and Environment： Anqing Nature Reserve is losing weight, and the living environment of finless porpoise is worrying.
CCTV News:According to the website of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, from November 4 th to 8 th, the Third Central Ecological Environmental Protection Inspector Group conducted an on-site inspection of Anqing finless porpoise nature reserve. Through the analysis of the previous adjustments of the nature reserve and the field verification, it is found that the Anqing municipal government arbitrarily adjusted the scope and functional zoning of the nature reserve, which led to the decline of the ecological function of the nature reserve and seriously threatened the finless porpoise habitat.
I. Basic information
The finless porpoise, known as the "giant panda in water", is an indicator species of the Yangtze River ecosystem, and is listed as an extremely endangered species in the Red List of the World Conservation Union (IUCN). According to the investigation and scientific research data organized by the former Ministry of Agriculture, Anqing Yangtze River section is one of the most densely populated Yangtze River sections because of its unique geographical and hydrological environment, and has become the most important habitat and protected area for finless porpoises. In 2007, Anqing City established a municipal finless porpoise nature reserve, covering the mainstream of the Yangtze River in Anqing City, with a total length of 243 kilometers and a total area of 806 square kilometers.
The state has always attached great importance to the protection of finless porpoises, especially since the 18th National Congress, a series of policy documents have been issued. In September 2014, the former Ministry of Agriculture issued the Notice on Further Strengthening the Protection and Management of the Yangtze finless porpoise, demanding that "the Yangtze finless porpoise should implement the strictest protection and management measures in accordance with the protection requirements of national first-class key protected wild animals." In December 2016, the former Ministry of Agriculture issued the Yangtze finless porpoise rescue action plan (2016-2025), which made it clear that "the precious next 10 years will be used to comprehensively promote and strengthen the restoration of the ecological environment and species resources in the Yangtze River and the two lakes, and quickly curb the rapid decline of the Yangtze finless porpoise population." In September 2018, the General Office of the State Council issued the Opinions on Strengthening the Protection of Aquatic Organisms in the Yangtze River (hereinafter referred to as the Opinions), which clearly stated that "the rescue protection action of rare and endangered aquatic organisms represented by Chinese sturgeon, Yangtze sturgeon and Yangtze finless porpoise should be implemented" and "the habitat protection of Yangtze finless porpoise should be strengthened".
In response to the work of nature reserves, the rectification plan of the Central Environmental Protection Inspector of Anhui Province clearly stated that "the illegal and illegal construction projects of ecological functional areas should be resolutely cleaned up. Deeply learn from the lessons of ecological and environmental problems in the Qilian Mountain National Nature Reserve in Gansu Province, and take it as a warning. "
Second, the main problems
Compared with the national requirements for the protection of finless porpoises and the contents of Anhui province’s rectification plan, the problems in the protection of finless porpoises in Anqing city are outstanding.
(a) frequent illegal adjustment of nature reserves.
In November, 2015, December, 2016 and June, 2017, Anqing municipal government issued three documents to adjust the scope and functional zoning of Anqing finless porpoise nature reserve in just one and a half years, and none of them were formally approved by the higher authorities. Among them, the adjustment in 2015 reduced the total protected area from 806 square kilometers to 552 square kilometers, and the length of the main stream from 243 kilometers to 152 kilometers. The practice of Anqing Municipal Government violates the requirements of the State Council’s Notice on Doing a Good Job in the Management of Nature Reserves, that nature reserves shall not be adjusted within five years in principle from the date of approval of establishment or adjustment, and that the adjustment of local nature reserves shall be examined and approved by the local provincial people’s government and reported to the Ministry of Environmental Protection and relevant departments for the record.
(2) The protection function is constantly "slimming and degrading".
The area of the reserve has been slimmed down.In the adjustment in 2015, Anqing City transferred the 91-kilometer section of the river, including the core area of Tongtie Plate Island, out of the reserve as a whole, resulting in about 50 finless porpoises losing their "shelter". In the adjustment in 2017, Anqing transferred 2.66 square kilometers of four areas, namely Shuanghekou section, Mozhazhou section, Wulimiao section and Changfeng section, out of the protected area to make way for the construction of the central port area of Anqing Port.
The finless porpoise habitat has been eroded.Inspectors found that Anqing city invaded the finless porpoise habitat through step-by-step adjustment and continuous encroachment. According to the scientific investigation, the Anhui River Estuary and Desert Island are foraging places for finless porpoises. This area was adjusted from a buffer zone to an experimental zone in 2016, and was transferred out of the reserve in 2017. On-site inspection found that more than 10 berths, including Anqing Petrochemical Hazardous Chemicals Wharf, have been built along the Yangtze River coastline of just two kilometers from Wanhekou to Desert Island. The Qingjie Zhoutou and Zhanghu Gate in Wanhe Farm area are important habitats for finless porpoises. In 2015, this area was adjusted from a buffer zone to an experimental zone, and most of them were transferred out of the reserve in 2017 for the construction of the central port area of Anqing Port.
Protected areas make way for development.The section from Xinba to Taokou River in susong county was the core area of the reserve before 2015, which was adjusted to a buffer area in 2015 and reduced to an experimental area in 2016. According to the functional zoning adjustment report provided by Anqing City, there is no sign of finless porpoise activity in this area, but the comprehensive investigation report of the protected area shows that finless porpoise activity still exists in this section of the river in 2016. On-site inspection found that the coastline of this area is close to Linjiang Industrial Park in susong county, and there are many leather and chemical enterprises. The sewage outlet of the park located in the protected area has not been approved so far, which continues to threaten the finless porpoise habitat.
(three) there are still a large number of illegal projects in the existing protected areas.
The former Ministry of Environmental Protection clearly requested in the review opinion of environmental impact assessment of Anqing Port Central Port Planning: "Strictly observe the red line of regional ecological protection, and the planning contents such as docks, berths and anchorages in the legally protected areas should be cancelled according to law, and the projects that have been built in the area that are inconsistent with the law should be rectified within a time limit to speed up the clean-up and rectification." However, inspectors found that there are 25 berths for production terminals, 2 water gas stations and 3 anchorages in Anqing shoreline alone in the adjusted protected area. Among them, Haikou Wharf, Jianghai Sandstone Wharf and Yangjiatao Water Gas Station are located in the buffer zone of the reserve, and all three anchorages are located in the waters where finless porpoises are active, which directly threaten the survival of finless porpoises. In addition, there are 18 sewage outlets directly discharging into the main stream of the Yangtze River, four of which have not been approved.
Figure 1: There are water gas stations in the buffer zone of Anqing finless porpoise nature reserve.
Figure 2: There is a production dock in the buffer zone of Anqing finless porpoise nature reserve.
The Opinions of the General Office of the State Council requires that "by 2020, fishing in key waters of the Yangtze River Basin will be banned all the year round". Up to now, only 6 fishing boats have been withdrawn from Anqing, and 492 fishing boats are still to be withdrawn, which seriously lags behind the work progress. According to relevant scientific research data, in recent years, some feeding or foraging areas of Anqing finless porpoise have disappeared, and the population tends to be fragmented, so the living environment of finless porpoise is worrying.
Third, the reason analysis
The relevant departments of Anhui Province and Anqing Municipal Government have not paid enough attention to the protection of the Yangtze River ecosystem, and their responsibilities are lacking.
Provincial agricultural commissionFor a long time, the protection of finless porpoises has not been coordinated as a whole, and the relevant national documents on finless porpoises have been changed, and there is no strong supervision and support for the protection of local finless porpoises. In 2015, the approval document for the adjustment of Anqing finless porpoise nature reserve was copied to the Provincial Agriculture Committee and the Provincial Environmental Protection Department. After receiving the document, the Provincial Agriculture Committee left it alone, allowing the protected areas to be greatly reduced.Provincial environmental protection departmentThere is a lack of effective supervision on Anqing finless porpoise nature reserve, and the core area and buffer area of Anqing finless porpoise nature reserve are not included in the ecological protection red line.
Anqing municipal governmentInstead of avoiding the finless porpoise nature reserve according to the requirements of the environmental impact assessment review of Anqing Port Central Port Planning, the protected area was adjusted to make way for the development of the port area.Anqing agricultural commissionThe provided data of functional zoning of protected areas are inconsistent, and they dare not touch the illegal items in protected areas, and even blame the experts for the illegal adjustment of protected areas.
In this regard, the inspector group said that it will further investigate and verify the situation, and will insist on local investigation and punishment if there is dereliction of duty.