government. China signed the Ramsar Convention for the Protection of
Wetlands in 1992, but to date has not yet enacted national wetlands protection
legislation.^68 Several wetlands are part of the national protected area system,
but few enforcement personnel monitor the degradation of wetlands. In 2004,
the SFA announced that by 2020 it would have almost 600 wetlands reserves,
covering more than 70 percent of China’s total wetlands.^69
Oceans
China’s coastline extends 18400 kilometers and abuts four seas: the Bo Hai
(considered an ‘inland’sea), the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, and the South
China Sea. Coastal wetlands are important spawning and nursery grounds for
fish and crustaceans and feeding sites for water birds.
Threats to China’s oceans include overfishing, destructive fishing methods,
pollution, and the reclamation of coastal lands. Marine fisheries are nearly 75
percent of China’s total fisheries, and overfishing has resulted in a serious
decline of take in recent years. The mariculture industry has caused
degradation of water quality as well as put pressure on fish fry, small crustacea
and shellfish.^70 Moreover, the use of dynamite and poison fishing has damaged
coral reefs and mangrove forests. At least 50 percent of the coral reefs off
China’s coasts have disappeared in the past 20 years. Loss of coral reefs in turn
increases the risk of typhoon damage to China’s coasts.
Pollution from industries, agriculture, domestic sewage, oil and gas
exploration, and fish farming has degraded China’s ocean environment, as has
extensive run-off of silt from rivers and seabed dredging. As one NGO
representative remarked: ‘All the coastal cities of China dump their wastes in
the sea’.^71 A State Oceans Administration official stated: ‘The coastal marine
ecosystem is worsening, the quality of ocean water is deteriorating, and large
amounts of pollutants are infiltrating from land to the sea’.^72 The loss of coastal
wetlands to agriculture, aquaculture, and reclamation projects has devastated
both wildlife and marine resources.^73 Sea cows have become extinct in China’s
seas, as have several species of kelp.^74 Mining of beach sand and minerals
destroys habitat of sea turtles. Both sea turtles^75 and coral are products of
illegal trading. Construction of dams and irrigation projects on coastal plains
affects the hydrological conditions of the coast too.
The primary response of the government to adverse changes of the marine
environment has been to establish marine reserves and marine parks, about
100 in total. Enforcement of existing regulations and laws on pollution
remains problematical. Yet in 2005, the state launched an eight-year
biodiversity maintenance project for coastal areas of the South China Sea, with
the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Global
Environmental Facility.^76
Current status of species and ecosystems 59