Here is the ecological case analysis of the Belt and Road Initiative, revisions to the biodiversity assessment, and the connectivity-related cases handled by the CBCGDF.
1. Hongyashan Shuiku
The Hongyashan Shuiku, also known as "Asia's Largest Desert Reservoir," is located at the downstream of the bridge and serves an important ecological role. Minqin County's only water conservation regulation and storage plant are irrigating over 600,000 mu of arable land. There are national-level protected animals such as white-tailed sea eagles, Chinese mergansers, whooper swan, white spoonbill, and gray cranes.
Without going through an environmental impact assessment, Rongda Mining Co., Ltd., Minqin County, constructed bridges illegally as a specific channel for production and transportation. The bridge's design and operation would have negative implications, such as disrupting migratory birds in the local area and destroying migratory bird habitats.
The protection of the river bed, bank and abutment slope may be impaired due to the bridge's excavation of the river channel. This region has low vegetation density, and the underlying surface has poor hydrological and physical conditions, which can easily contribute to soil erosion. Simultaneously, the bridge's design, which compresses the original riverbed portion, could have a significant effect on Hongyashan's flood control and flood discharge. The transportation of calcium carbide and other chemical raw materials could result in spills and leaks, polluting Hongyashan Shuiku significantly.
2. Canal construction and Poyang Lake ecosystem connectivity
Poyang Lake is a complete ecosystem, and it is difficult to preserve it solely by the development of any protected areas around the lake. The construction of sluices at the lake's mouth and Chenglingji of Dongting Lake will further isolate the leading river-connecting lakes in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Humans manipulate the characteristics and appearances of rivers and lakes. The "river-to-reservoir" system would significantly reduce the environmental potential and range of biological migration in the face of increasingly severe pollution.
3. E40 IWW
The E40 IWW project is an ecological research case of the CBCGDF "Belt and Road Initiative ". Following its investigation, CBCGDF published an article titled "European Wilderness Rivers Are Threatened by the E40 Project, Leading Environmental Organizations to Strongly Protest," which detailed the project's potential biodiversity EIA risks. Since biodiversity and the environment are important parts of the "Belt and Road Initiative" (BRI), CBCGDF has been researching the ecological risks and disputed cases of BRI for a long time to provide consultation and reference for related policies from the perspective of private think tanks. In conjunction with the field investigation of the representatives of CBCGDF to Ukraine in the autumn of 2018, CBCGDF believed that the risk of this project was high, so it issued a risk warning.
The E40 WWI would threaten valuable protected natural areas in Poland, Belarus and Ukraine, includes 29 protected areas in Poland, some of which are part of Nature 2000 network; of the approximately 27 regions in Ukraine, there are two natural reserves, six national parks and the Chernobyl Radiation and Environmental Biosphere Reserve.
4. Fake environmental assessment of Shenzhen Bay Channel Dredging Project
The previous environmental impact study on dredging the Shenzhen Bay waterway was accused of plagiarising and failed to account for habitat loss, food destruction, and the effects of oil, noise, and light pollution on birds during the dredging process. If authorized, such projects would have a considerable impact on local biodiversity. Thus, it is also essential to understand whether the inspection and evaluation process is adequately supervised and subject to public scrutiny when it comes to the ecological effects of connectivity.
The effect of transportation on biodiversity and connectivity has long been a source of concern for CBCGDF. Representatives of CBCGDF conducted a successful session entitled "Protected Connected land- New Conservation Propositions for Ecological Networks", and it was a great success. At the end of February 2016, Hu Deping, Chairperson of CBCGDF, met with Mr. Zhang Xinsheng, President of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Mr. Sha Zukang and his wife, former Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, and other visiting officials at Diaoyutai Guesthouse to hold consultations on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and biodiversity conservation of "Belt and Road Initiative".
Translator/Syying
Original Chinese article
https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1696348312320964363&wfr=spider&for=pc
Contribution
https://www.paypal.me/CBCGDFChina
http://www.cbcgdf.org/English/ConfirmDonaTion/0.html