UNDP - GEF - SFA “Wetland Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Use in China” MAINSTREAMING WETLAND BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION Experience and Lessons Learned in Practical Applications of Mainstreaming Proceedings of the International Workshop December 4 - 7, 2007 Yueyang, Hunan Province, P.R. China Edited by: Edwin D. Ongley, PhD. With assistance from Martine H. Allard, PhD. Disclaimer The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the United Nations or UNDP, or the State Forestry Administration. The designations employed and the presentation of geographical material do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations or UNDP, or the State Forestry Administration, concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Copyright Copyright of the United Nations Development Programme, China, and the State Forestry Administration. All rights reserved. This publication may be quoted, reproduced or translated, in part or in full, provided the source is acknowledged. It may not be reproduced for any commercial use without the prior written approval of UNDP. Editors’ Note: All papers have been edited for content and style. Papers originally written in Chinese were translated by the Project Office, then edited. There are many words, expressions and nuances that are not easily translated from Chinese to English. Therefore, while effort was made to understand and re-interpret awkward translations, some difficult text may remain in the full papers. Citation: UNDP, 2009. MAINSTREAMING WETLAND BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION: Experience and Lessons Learned in Practical Applications of Mainstreaming. (E.D. Ongley, & M.H. Allard, Eds.). UNDP and the State Forestry Administration of China, Beijing, P.R. China 2009 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page FOREWORD - UNDP v PREFACE - STATE FORESTRY ADMINISTRATION vii DONGTING LAKE DECLARATION xi THE WORKSHOP: SYNTHESIS AND PERSPECTIVE 1. WORKSHOP SYNTHESIS AND OVERVIEW 3 by Edwin Ongley 2. STATUS AND OBJECTIVES OF WETLAND CONSERVATION IN CHINA 35 by Ma Guangren 3. PERSPECTIVE ON WETLANDS IN CHINESE CULTURAL HISTORY 45 by Cao Xin MULTILATERAL VIEWS ON MAINSTREAMING 4. MAINSTREAMING WETLAND BIODIVERSITY – A CONVENTION PERSPECTIVE 53 by Sandra Hails 5. STATUS OF MAINSTREAMING BIODIVERSITY: EXPERIENCE OF THE UNITED 63 NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME by Guo Yinfeng 6. MAINSTREAMING EXPERIENCES IN WWF PROGRAMMES 75 by Jamie Pittock MAINSTREAMING IN THE CHINA NATIONAL WETLANDS BIODIVERSITY PROJECT 7. MAINSTREAMING IN THE UNDP/GEF/SFA PROJECT “WETLAND 89 B IODIVERSITY CONSERVATION AND SUSTAINABLE USE IN CHINA” by Liu GuoQiang 8. LEGAL AND INSTITUTIONAL MAINSTREAMING IN THE GEF CHINA NATIONAL 99 WETLAND PROJECT by Edwin Ongley, Wang Rong Cai Shouqui, Lang Peijuan, and Wu Haohan 9. MAINSTREAMING STRATEGY AND PRACTICE IN HEILONGJIANG WETLAND 113 BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION by Cui Guangfan, Jiang Ming, Zhu Baoguang, and Wu Haitao INTERNATIONAL EXAMPLES OF MAINSTREAMING WETLANDS BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION 10. MAINSTREAMING WETLAND BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION THROUGH AN 125 INTEGRATED RIVER BASIN MANAGEMENT PROGRAM IN MEXICO by Eugenio Barrios 11. MAINSTREAMING WETLAND BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION ON PRIVATE 137 LANDS IN AUSTRALIA by Eric Fisher iii 12. MAINSTREAMING COASTAL WETLAND BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION IN 147 AFRICAN MANGROVES, CAMEROON by Gordon Ajonina 13. MAINSTREAMING CONSERVATION OF WETLAND BIODIVERSITY IN SOUTH AFRICA 161 by Jenny Day 14. MAINSTREAMING WETLANDS CONSERVATION IN PAKISTAN 169 by Ahmad Khan 15. JOINT MANGROVE MANAGEMENT IN ANDHRA PRADESH, INDIA 173 by R. Ramasubramanian, T. Ravishankar and V. Selvam 16. TOWARDS MAINSTREAMING LAKE BURULLUS BIODIVERSITY, EGYPT 183 by Kamal Hussien Shaltout MAINSTREAMING AT PROVINCIAL AND LOCAL LEVELS IN CHINA 17. MAINSTREAMING WETLAND BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION IN HONGHU LAKE, 197 CENTRAL CHINA: PRACTICES AND PROGRESS by Wen Feng 18. MAINSTREAMING WETLANDS BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION IN 209 GUANGDONG PROVINCE by Ke Yayong, Lin Shu,and Zhang Weibin 19. DEMONSTRATING AND EXPANDING GREEN AGRICULTURE IN THE NATURE RESERVE 215 OF CRESTED IBIS OF HANZHONG, SHAANXI PROVINCE, CHINA by Zhang Yueming, Ding Haihua and Lu Baozhong SUPPORTING MEASURES FOR MAINSTREAMING 20. MEASURING MAINSTREAMING: DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION OF WETLANDS 229 BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION CRITERIA IN CHINA by Edwin Ongley 21. THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE IN INTER-SECTORAL DATA-SHARING: STORET 251 by Tim Bondelid and Dwane Young 22. MAINSTREAMING WETLAND ECONOMIC EVALUATION: A CASE STUDY FROM 263 POTTERIC CARR NATIONAL NATURE RESERVE, ENGLAND by Robert Oates 23. INTERNATIONAL EXAMPLES OF LEGISLATION, POLICIES AND PRACTICES SUPPORTING 271 MAINSTREAMING OF WETLANDS (BIODIVERSITY) CONSERVATION by Edwin Ongley and Martine Allard 24. MAINSTREAMING WETLAND ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE INTO RURAL 285 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PLANS by Yongyuan Yin iv FOREWORD China has over 24 million hectares of some of the world’s most unique natural wetlands, supporting an extremely wide range of globally important biological diversity. The use of these wetlands also supplies rice, protein, medicine, energy and raw materials for local communities. However, there used to be a number of barriers to effective conservation of these global wetland biodiversity, including lack of integration of wetland management and biodiversity conservation into development planning and absence of adequate institutional mechanisms for multi-sectoral wetland management. UNDP/GEF “Wetland Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Use in China” Project (China Wetland Project) represents a timely response to these challenges aiming at mainstreaming wetland biodiversity conservation into national, provincial and local government decision making and action. Though recognized by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity as the principal vehicle through which the objectives of the convention can be achieved, the mainstreaming concept has been relatively poorly understood among many practitioners of wetland conservation. With this in mind, UNDP China, WWF China and Wetland International China Office together with State Forestry Administration jointly organized an international workshop entitled “Mainstreaming Wetland Biodiversity Conservation – Experience and Lessons Learned in Practical Applications of Mainstreaming”. The workshop which was held on December 1 - 4 of 2007 in Yueyang, China, focused on sharing of experiences between wetland conservation communities in China, their counterparts in other countries and international organizations in the practical application of mainstreaming both in wetland management and in relevant sectoral areas such as water resources management. As a formal record of the workshop, this proceeding is divided into seven sections containing 24 chapters elaborating the experiences of mainstreaming approaches, methods, mechanisms and practices for wetland conservation from the perspectives of international organizations such as UNDP, Ramsar Convention and WWF, developed and developing countries and the Chinese side at national and local levels. Chapter One provides a consolidated overview of the workshop itself and of the major themes drawn from the papers that comprise the chapters of this volume. These Proceedings are intended to contribute to the building of knowledge to achieve the strategic objective of mainstreaming biodiversity into production landscapes of the GEF, and mainstreaming environment into sustainable development which is integral to the UNDP Strategic Plan for 2008-2011. Subinay Nandy Country Director UNDP China v (intentional blank page) vi PREFACE In his immortal prose The Yue Yang Tower, Fan Zhongyan wrote this sentence: “To be the first to worry about the affairs of the state and the last to enjoy oneself!” The sense of responsibility of the whole country reflected in this sentence was taken as a motto of the patriots and contributed to the development of societies, therefore was regarded as a splendid spiritual wealth of China in its civilization history. This prose itself was created in the inspiration by Dongting Lake — the Internationally Important Wetland. In the prose it says: Dongting Lake holds the mountain ranges in the distance and swallows the water of the Yangtze River. It’s so vast and mighty that it seems boundless. Dazzling in the morning sun and fading in the growing evening mist, it offers a myriad scene. The grand ecological functions and natural scene inspired the thinker. Wetland is the carrying body of the global water cycle. Water is the soul of wetland, which decides the distribution, structure and function of wetland. At the same time, water is the major product of wetland. It is estimated that at least 1.5-3 billion people in the world directly depend on wetlands for safe drinking water. Among the eight Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations, three are directly connected to wetlands and water. Reports from FAO and RAMSAR indicate that at least 1 billion people in the world (mostly in developing countries) get most of their animal protein from wetlands. Wetland fishing is an important component of national economies. At least 35 million people in the world directly live on fishery and aquaculture fisheries. More than 70% of aquatic products come from terrestrial and coastal wetlands ecosystems. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Report estimates that the coastal wetlands