Green development of South China Sea under nation's governance

Editor's note: Wang Yeqiang is a director of the Marine Economic Research Office of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The article reflects the author's opinion and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

For a long time, due to multiple factors such as busy maritime trade, oil pollution accidents, marine debris, coastal development, and commercial overfishing, the marine ecosystem in the South China Sea has been severely damaged, and the carrying capacity of the ecological environment has continued to decline. In order to protect the marine ecological environment of the South China Sea, the Chinese government has taken a series of measures to continuously increase research and control efforts on marine pollution, maintain the stability of the South China Sea ecosystem, and promote the restoration of the marine ecosystem.

These measures include:

Revise the Marine Environmental Protection Law and multiple supporting regulations, continuously improve the regulatory system for marine ecological environment protection;

Deepen land and sea coordination in pollution prevention and control, improve the water quality and total nitrogen reduction of rivers entering the sea, prevent and control pollution of point sources in coastal cities and agricultural non-point sources, as well as strengthening environmental governance of seawater aquaculture and port ships;

Promote implementation of major projects for coastal zone protection and restoration, restoring marine ecosystems such as coastal wetlands, shorelines, islands, mangroves, seagrass beds, coral reefs, etc;

By promoting fishery resource conservation technologies and strengthening fishery management, sustainable fishery development has been encouraged, facilitating the sustainable utilization of fishery resources in the South China Sea region;

Establish marine environmental monitoring stations to timely monitor information such as marine water quality, quantity and distribution of marine organisms, providing a basis for scientifically formulating protection measures;

Strengthen law enforcement efforts, combating illegal fishing and damage to safeguard the marine ecological environment.

At present, the Chinese government has established a number of marine nature reserves and national marine parks in the South China Sea, prohibiting fishing and destruction of marine habitats. 302 species of wild aquatic animals have been included in the national protection list, providing a safe habitat for marine life.

Through continuous efforts, the overall quality of the marine ecological environment in the South China Sea has improved, and the ecosystem functions in some areas have significantly upgraded. Seawater quality in coastal waters has been continuously enhanced, and the major monitored estuaries, bays and mudflat wetland ecosystems have all been eliminated from the "unhealthy" state. Fisheries resources have been sustainably utilized, biodiversity has been effectively protected, ecosystem service functions have been enhanced, and climate change adaptation capabilities have been strengthened.

The continuous restoration of coral reefs and mangrove ecosystems has not only promoted the reproduction and population growth of marine organisms, but also provided conditions for the restoration and protection of population and habitats of rare marine species. The biodiversity in the South China Sea has seen significant improvement.

(Cover via CFP)