“Yangtze River protection needs a separate law. It needs to fully reflect the ecological situation of the river and protection requirements, and set green development rules for the Yangtze River Economic Belt,” Wang Jinnan, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and director of the Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning, told yicai.com.
China set in motion a top-level plan to develop the provincial economies along the country’s longest river in 2016. That plan gives equal attention to ecology and the environment, under which green development has become a consensus. “Protecting ecology using laws and regulations has become a society-wide consensus,” Wang said, citing a series of documents and regulations rolled out by China’s central government regarding Yangtze River protection.
But the existing rules “target either only a lake or the issue of sand dredging, thus are unable to meet the current and future needs of Yangtze River protection,” he said. Therefore, a separate, comprehensive law is needed. Such a law should protect the entire Yangtze River Basin, take into account natural resources, economic development features and regional differences, as well as the ecological protection requirements, he said, adding that a long-term perspective is key to applicability over a considerably long time.
Wang said solidifying the special status and requirements of Yangtze River protection in law is a crucial condition for solving existing problems. He went on to suggest that the law specify critical parts of the river basin for greater attention, list banned activities and activities which should be discouraged throughout the basin, saying for example that in water resource development and exploitation clear requirements on total water control and hydropower generation constraints are needed. It should state the costs for breaking the law explicitly, he added.
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