ASIA / PACIFIC MIGRATORY BIRD SANCTUARIES ALONG THE COAST OF YELLOW SEA-BOHAI GULF OF CHINA (PHASE I) CHINA Spoon-billed Sandpiper (Calidris pygmaea) habitat, Tiaozini © IUCN / Sonali Ghosh China – Migratory Bird Sanctuaries along the Coast of Yellow Sea-Bohai Gulf of China (Phase I) WORLD HERITAGE NOMINATION – IUCN TECHNICAL EVALUATION MIGRATORY BIRD SANCTUARIES ALONG THE COAST OF YELLOW SEA- BOHAI-GULF OF CHINA (PHASE I) (CHINA) – ID N° 1606 IUCN RECOMMENDATION TO WORLD HERITAGE COMMITTEE: To defer the nominated property under natural criteria. Key paragraphs of Operational Guidelines: Paragraph 77: Nominated property has potential to meet World Heritage criteria. Paragraph 78: Nominated property does not currently meet integrity, protection and management requirements. 1. DOCUMENTATION Commission; Melville, D.S., Chen, Y. & Ma, Z. (2016). Shorebirds along the Yellow Sea coast of China face an a) Date nomination received by IUCN: 25 March 2018. uncertain future - a review of threats. Emu-Austral Ornithology 116(2):100-110; Menxiu, T., Lin, Z., Li, J., b) Additional information officially requested from Zöckler, C. & Clark, N.A. (2012). The critical importance and provided by the State Party: Following the IUCN of the Rudong mudflats, Jiangsu Province, China in the World Heritage Panel a progress report was sent to the annual cycle of the Spoon-billed Sandpiper Calidris State Party on 20 December 2018. This letter advised on pygmeus. Wader Study Group Bulletin 119(3):208-212; the status of the evaluation process and sought Murray, N.J., Ma, Z. & Fuller, R.A. (2015). Tidal flats of responses/clarifications on a range of issues including the Yellow Sea: A review of ecosystem status and the assessment of the relative significance of the values anthropogenic threats. Austral Ecology 40:472-481; represented in the nominated property in relation to the Paulson Institute (2016). Blueprint of Coastal Wetland value of the potential 14 components remaining to be Conservation and Management in China. Institute of nominated in the future; the status, plans and timelines Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, which are anticipated for nominating the remaining CAS; Peng, H-B. et al. (2017). The intertidal wetlands of components of the series; and the commitment of the southern Jiangsu Province, China – globally important State Party to include Tiaozini as part of this Phase I for Spoon-billed Sandpipers and other threatened nomination. IUCN met with representatives from the waterbirds, but facing multiple serious threats. Bird nominated property on 14 February 2019 in order to Conservation International 27:305-322; Piersma, T. et engage in a dialogue on the nomination and clarify al. (2017). Loss of habitat leads to loss of birds: requests for additional information. The State Party reflections on the Jiangsu, China, coastal development submitted additional information on 22 February 2019. plans. Wader Study 124(2):93-98; Rogers, D.I. et al. (2010). Red Knots (Calidris canutus piersmai and C. c. c) Additional literature consulted: Various sources, rogersi) depend on a small threatened staging area in including: Crockford, N.J., Millington, S. & Provencher, J. Bohai Bay, China. Emu-Austral Ornithology 110(4):307- (2018). Challenges and opportunities for transboundary 315; Studds, C.E. et al. (2017). Rapid population conservation of migratory birds in the East Asian decline in migratory shorebirds relying on Yellow Sea Australasian Flyway. Conservation Biology 32(3):740- tidal mudflats as stopover sites. Nature Communications 743; He, Z., Xu, S., Shen, W., Long, R. & Yang, H. 8:14895. (2016). Overview of the development of the Chinese Jiangsu coastal wind-power industry cluster. Renewable d) Consultations: 11 desk reviews received. The and Sustainable Energy Reviews 57:59–71; Li, J., mission met with a wide range of stakeholders including Wang, Y. & Zhang, R. (2007). Influence of seawall line State Party representatives ranging from central to local choice on tide lock drainage in tidal flat inning. governmental levels, academia, NGOs, and local Cangdongpian Inning Area on the west part of Tiaozini community representatives. Additional consultations Sand as a case study. Marine Science Bulletin 9(1):55- were held with selected international experts. 65; Liu, Y., Li, M., Zhou, M., Yang, K. & Mao, L. (2013). Quantitative analysis of the waterline method for e) Field Visit: Sonali Ghosh and Tilman Jaeger, 14-19 topographical mapping of tidal flats: A case study in the October 2018 Dongsha Sandbank, China. Remote Sensing 5(11):6138-6158; MacKinnon, J., Verkuil, Y.I. & Murray, f) Date of IUCN approval of this report: May 2019 N. (2012). IUCN situation analysis on East and Southeast Asian intertidal habitats, with particular reference to the Yellow Sea (including the Bohai Sea). 2. SUMMARY OF NATURAL VALUES Occasional Paper No 47 of the IUCN Species Survival IUCN Evaluation Report – May 2019 5 China – Migratory Bird Sanctuaries along the Coast of Yellow Sea-Bohai Gulf of China (Phase I) Located between China and the Korean Peninsula, the effects of rivers on salinity; (c) marked seasonal Yellow Sea is the northern part of the East China Sea, a variations; (d) coastal ice-formation in the winter; and (e) marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean. The Bohai Gulf forms strong effects of the monsoon regime. the innermost gulf of the Yellow Sea. The Bohai Gulf is markedly distinct from the Yellow Sea and therefore The nominated property, ‘Migratory Bird Sanctuaries often considered to constitute a separate marine region along the Coast of Yellow Sea-Bohai Gulf of China’, is rather than an appendix to the Yellow Sea. The proposed as a serial nomination of 16 components. The particularities of the Bohai Gulf will not be discussed in nomination dossier proposed initially three phases, any detail in this report because the two components in however, this was revised to two phases by the State the Phase I nomination are not located in the Bohai Gulf. Party in its additional information submitted 22 February Several components suggested for nomination in 2019, with two components nominated in Phase I. These planned Phase II are located in the Bohai Gulf. constitute the nomination evaluated herein and include the Jiangsu Dafeng National Nature Reserve, and the The Yellow Sea is a semi-enclosed sea connected to the southern section and Dongsha Experimental Zone of Bohai Gulf and to the East China Sea through a Jiangsu Yancheng National Nature Reserve (144,839ha) permanent circulation system. Conventionally, the and the middle section of Jiangsu Yancheng National southern border of the Yellow Sea is defined as an Nature Reserve (43,804ha), denominated as YS-1 and imagined line between the north bank of the mouth of YS-2, respectively. In its February submission, the State the Yangtze River (Changjiang, China) to the south side Party also indicated the inclusion of the Tiaozini area (an of Jeju Island (Republic of Korea). The average depth of additional 35,469ha included in YS-1) as part of the the Yellow Sea is little more than 40m and most of it is Phase I nomination and indicated its plans to submit the shallower than 80m. Further characteristics include (a) nomination files for Phase II before February, 2022. The exceptionally large river sediment loads, including loads total area nominated in two components is thus from the mighty Yellow and Yangtze Rivers; these 188,643ha with a buffer zone of 80,056ha. Table 1 sediments give the sea its colour – and its name (in below details the nominated components in Phase I (YS- addition to important eolian sediments which likewise 1, YS-2) highlighted within the overall 16 component contribute to the turbid yellowish colouring); (b) strong phased approach. No. Identification Nominated Buffer (~) Total (ha.) 1 Dandong Yalu River Estuary National Nature Reserve, Liaoning 36,000 45,430 81,430 2 Changhai Provincial Nature Reserve for Rare Marine Life, Liaoning 2,000 0 2,000 3 Snake Island-Laotie Mountain National Nature Reserve, Liaoning 5,512 3,560 9,072 4 Dalian Haibin-Lüshunkou National Park, Liaoning 12,103 16,670 28,773 5 Liaohe River Estuary National Nature Reserve, Liaoning 47,913 32,087 80,000 6 Shi River Estuary, Shanhaiguan, Qinhuangdao, Hebei 127 0 127 7 Beidaihe-Geziwo/Xin River Estuary, Hebei 7,887 0 7,887 8 Golden Coast Nature Reserve, Beidaihe New District, Hebei 25,213 3,801 29,014 9 Luannan-Zuidong Coastal Wetland, Hebei 6,806 4,219 11,025 10 Caofeidian Wetland, Hebei 5,007 5,074 10,081 11 Nandagang Wetland in Cangzhou, Hebei 4,603 2,897 7,500 12 Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve, Shandong 70,652 81,338 151,990 13 Jiangsu Dafeng National Nature Reserve, and the southern section and 144,839 28,271 173,110 Dongsha Experimental zone of Jiangsu Yancheng National Nature Reserve, as well as the Tiaozini area (YS-1) 14 The middle section of Jiangsu Yancheng National Nature Reserve (YS-2) 43,804 51,785 95,589 15 Dongtai-Rudong Coast, Jiangsu 21,548 0 21,548 16 Qidong Yangtze River Estuary Nature Reserve, Jiangsu 14,959 5,259 20,218 Total area (ha.) 448,973 280,391 729,364 Total area, Phase I 188,643 80,056 268,699 Total area, Phase II 260,330 200,335 460,665 Table 1: Components of proposed Migratory Bird Sanctuaries along the Coast of Yellow Sea-Bohai Gulf of China (Phases I and II). Components nominated under Phase I (YS-1, YS-2) are highlighted. YS-1 includes the Tiaozini area, added to the nomination in February 2019. Sources: Adapted from Supplementary Information submitted by the State Party. 6 IUCN Evaluation Report – May 2019 China – Migratory Bird Sanctuaries along the Coast of Yellow Sea-Bohai Gulf of China (Phase I) The current nomination of two components From a global conservation perspective, probably the (denominated as YS-1 and YS-2) is a modest most striking and visible conservation value of the representation of a vast and complex overall system.