A Model for Biodiversity Conservation in Deserts and Wetlands | CBCGDF Established "China Conservation Area for Desert and Weir at Yangguan"
2019/1/2 15:03:00 本站

Recently, CBCGDF received an application from the founder of “Desert and Duijangyan (Dujiang Weir), Mr. He Yanzhong, for the China Conservation Area for “Desert and Dujiangyan” (CCAfa). The CBCGDF staff carefully reviewed it in accordance with the procedures, and actively communicated and followed up, to confirm that they met the requirements, and the “China Conservation Area for Desert and Weir at Yangguan” has been formally established.

 

Yangguan has been the first line of defense against sandstorms in Dunhuang since ancient times. In people's impressions, a desert is a place with water shortage and drought, and Yangguan is also a Dunhuang area known as China's "drought pole." However, the Dunhuang Kumtag Desert has long been facing serious threats from flooding. Floods and disasters occur frequently. Whenever there is heavy rainfall, floods from the upper reaches are covered with a lot of sand and rushing down, lightly polluting the water source, and severely destroying the roads, farmlands, villages, etc., caused huge losses to the lives and property of the residents of Yangguan. In order to prevent floods, the villagers repair the dams repeatedly, and the floods haven’t stopped.

 

Known as the extreme pole of drought, also a place with constant floods, it is an important migratory bird habitat and migration station. There are around 87 species of birds, including 50 species of migratory birds, and national first- and second-class protected birds. Two species listed in the IUCN Red List, eight species are listed in the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), and three are listed in the Chinese red list of endangered animal species. In addition, there are 145 species of vertebrates, 18 species listed in the List of endangered and protected species of China, three first-class protected animals, and 15 second-class protected animals. There are 141 species of seed plants and four species of rare and endangered plants in the country.

 

The desert invades the living environment of the species at a speed of six meters per year, and all wildlife is at stake. Mr. He Yanzhong arrived at Dunhuang to build a dam since 2001, to intercept the flood and slow down the flow rate; then to the river channel where the flood diversion was carried out, the flood under the dumping was divided into the Kumtag Desert; and the excavation water storage project was used to separate the floods. In the middle of it, the accumulated floods infiltrate to conserve the water source to form a "groundwater reservoir"; the lateral seepage section is excavated near the "reservoir", and the infiltrated flood passes through the desert and becomes clear and then flows out and becomes available water resources; the to restore ecology and develop high-cold water fish farming and grapes growing through planting green trees. In the tuyere of the Kumtag Desert, the desert barrier is built high, and the “Desert Great Wall” is built to block the advancement of the sand dunes; the water storage project is constructed to save the windbreak. This series of work has successfully provided important guarantees for the wildlife species in the "China Conservation Area for Desert and Weir at Yangguan”.

 

Here, congratulations on the formal establishment of "China Conservation Area for Desert and Weir at Yangguan". This CCAfa site not only helps to study the changes of the wetland and desert complex ecosystems in the desert areas of western China; it also has unique value for exploring the treatment of desert wetlands in extremely arid regions; at the same time, it improves the wetland ecological environment, saves endangered species, protects the genetic diversity and habitat of wild animals and plant germplasm, it is also of great significance for ecological research and biodiversity conservation.


CBCGDF will work tightly with Mr. He Yanzhong's team to implement the work of this CCAfa site to promote the construction of beautiful Dunhuang and boost the cause of green development.


微信图片_20181227125811.png


微信图片_20181227125851.png

The contrast photos before and after protection on the CCAfa site.









The photos on ecological restoration.

































(Photo credit: He Yanzhong)


Original Chinese article:

http://www.cbcgdf.org/NewsShow/4855/7183.html