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Water Stewardship in Yangtze Basin

Wenwei Ren Director of Yangtze Footprint Head of Shanghai Hub, WWF-China Email: wwren@wwfchina.org

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Green Initiatives' "A World Without Water" August Event”, 2015, Shanghai

Wild Yangtze• 6,300km long – world’s 3rd longest

river • 7,500m difference in altitude from

source to sea • Area of 1.8million km2 – almost the

same size as Mexico • Unique ecosystem full of rare

endemic wildlife • One of WWF’s 35 priority eco-regions

Background

Yangtze River Basin: A unique Eco-system

for a living planet

Tibetan antelope

Snow leopard Wild yak Wild Donkey

Brown Bear Black neck craneBlue Sheep Tibetan antelope

Source of the Yangtze

for a living planet

Giant Panda

Golden MonkeyBlack Bear

Blue Sheep

Lesser Panda, Red Panda

Upper Yangtze

for a living planet

Population: ~1400 Red-crowned Crane

Yangtze Dolphin Finless porpoise

Yangtze Alligator

Central Yangtze

Chinese Sturgeon

Black face spoonbill Oriental Stork

Père David's Deer

Lower Yangtze

Human Yangtze• 476million people – 36% of population of China • Rich in resources –

70% rice, 60% freshwater fish, 40% grain, 33% cotton, 40% hydropower, 50% industrial products

• Represents 40% of GDP, annual growth rate of 10-15% • Yangtze Delta: “World Factory” – more than 400 out of

Top 500 companies

Hydro-project & Navigation

A number of lakes and associated wetlands have been reclaimed for agricultural and aquaculture use in C&L Yangtze: (a) rice field; (b) radish field; (c) cotton field; and (d) mussel cultivation for the production of pearls

Wetland Loss

An increasing human population has led to an overuse of water surface in lakes of the C&L Yangtze: (a) fish aquaculture with retiary boxes; (b) collecting aquatic plants for fish food; (c) cultivation of water bamboo (Zizania caduciflora), a persistent perennial root plant; and (d) lotus cultivation.

Overuse of Surface Water

Lakes in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River form a shallow lake group unique in the World that is becoming increasingly polluted by heavy metals. (Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2013)

Pollution

Extreme WeatherGlacial Melting Sea level rise

PollutionDeforestation & Soil Erosion

Shipping & Navigation

Urban DevelopmentInfrastructure: Dams, Mining, Roads

Mass Tourism Development

Reclamation of Wetland for Farming

Over-fishing

Result of Climate Change Direct Human Interference

Achievement and challenge

Basin water governance

Development and climate drivers

Community Bio-physical People Governance => Ecosystem health

Government Physical / biophysical Social / economic Institutional

=> Political

Corporate Physical

Reputation Regulation

=> Economic value

Essence of Water Stewardship: Shared risk and opportunity

Shared Risk & Opportunity

Fiver steps of "Water Stewardship Journey"

Achievements and learning

Time

Water awareness

Knowledge of impact

Collective Action

Influence governance

Better Basin Governance

Leve

l of w

ater

shed

sus

tain

abili

ty

Internal action

Training/Wetland 1+1

Water risk mapping

WF management/ Eco-industrial park

WS standard /Green Supply Chain/ Multi-stakeholer engagement

Water dialogue, roundtable/IRBM

Government

Wetland Community Corporation

WWF

Wetland 1+1

Research institute and experts

Wetland 1+1

Government

Wetland Community CorporationWWF

Responsibilities lPreserve the wetland lMonitoring & Evaluation lProvide activities venue

Benefits lBetter water for life & agri. lImprove life quality lIncrease income

Responsibilities lProvide funding & technology lInspection

Benefits lPlatform for engaging staff lImprove water performance lStrengthen corporate image

Responsibilities lPolicy for encouraging lEco-compensation lbuy eco-service

Benefits lEase financial burden lReduce the tension between government and corporation

• Nine Dragons Manage River

Bad governance Good governanceIRBM

Role of WWF in China’s Environmental Governance

(1) Catalyst role (i.e. IRBM: Integrated River Basin Management )

(2) Advocator role (Low carbon life)

Shanghai EXPO WWF’s Pavilion

Earth Hour, the WWF global campaign to combat climate change spread over 30 cities in China, and had its climax in Shanghai, with the Shanghai government announced its official participation on Mar 28.

（3） Incubator role：support local environmental NGOs

（4） Facilitator：facilitate company to green transition

•Gov. investment

• Biz CSR

•Local NGOs

WWF

WWF Vision

4 August 2015 - 28

Thank you !www.panda.org