China's ten-year Yangtze River fishing ban program has shown tremendous ecological and social effects since its implementation on January 1, 2020. At present, in addition to the effective protection and restoration of fishery resources, it has also produced direct ecological spillover effects. For example, the rivers and lakes in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River have seen a good situation of people retreating and birds entering. The social effect of the implementation of the Yangtze River fishing ban is also huge, with people along the entire Yangtze River actively cooperating with the fishing ban, unprecedentedly high public awareness of ecological and environmental protection, unprecedented enthusiasm for supporting and participating in conservation actions, and an overall increase in social awareness of ecological civilization.

Inspired by the 10-year fishing ban on the Yangtze River, we strongly recommend that the important habitats of migratory birds in the Chinese region along the migratory routes of East Asia and Australasia be banned from developmental construction in the medium and long term, taking into account the fishing ban on the Yangtze River, so as to effectively fulfill China's international responsibility to protect migratory birds along important global migration routes.

On the East Asia-Australia migration route (EAAF), there are some indispensable roosting stations for migratory birds to stop, feed and replenish their energy from north to south in China, and these important habitats are key ecological zones of high international concern. For a long time, provinces and cities along the Yangtze River have made corresponding efforts to protect these habitats, but the exploitation of coastal silt mudflats has been repeatedly prohibited. This phenomenon is extremely similar to the situation before the 10-year fishing ban on the Yangtze River. Due to the lack of a unified national ecological red line control plan for the whole line, there is always a phenomenon of developmental construction in extremely ecologically sensitive areas, with each party doing its own thing, watching each other, playing games, and using fines instead of control. This has greatly harmed the extremely limited and non-renewable valuable ecological strategic resources of coastal silty mudflats in China. It should be especially noted that these valuable non-renewable coastal silt mudflats, due to long-term development and erosion, are now very few left. It is urgent to rescue and protect them.

The Yangtze River is an inland river basin in China, and the East Asian Australasian Migratory Bird Routes is an international route of high global interest. Our ecological control initiatives on this route have significant international impact and international contribution significance. At present, China's ecological civilization in terms of large watersheds and ecology has made a good start with the world's attention through the Three Rivers Source Reserve and the 10-year fishing ban program on the Yangtze River, etc.

Under this general trend of ecological civilization development, we believe that the implementation of medium- and long-term prohibited developmental construction on the regional route of migratory birds in East Asia Australasia in China is an exemplary project leading international cooperation in ecological red line control and is a contribution to and demonstration of global ecological construction. At the same time, it is also an urgent need for biodiversity conservation and ecological resource security in China. It is recommended that the project be demonstrated, planned and implemented as soon as possible.

On the occasion of the United Nations Conference on Biodiversity CBD COP15, we sincerely submit the above proposals. In order to effectively promote the progress of biodiversity conservation after 2020 and build an ecological civilization in which people and nature live in harmony, we sincerely request your ministry to consider them promptly.

From: CBCGDF

Original Chinese article: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/KmvAO9BwZz_EFCLOjfcFqg

Translator/Daisy

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