China Xiaokang Network Exclusive article
Text | "Xiaokang"·China Xiaokang Network Reporter Yuan Shuai
Dugong The fundamental reason for functional extinction in China's coastal waters is habitat loss. There are two main reasons for the loss of dugong habitat. One is the pollution caused by industry and life to the offshore waters, and the other is the development and utilization of offshore waters such as fishing, freight, and tourism.
Warning bell The functional extinction of dugongs in China is a wake-up bell. It is understood that many projects currently do not take marine ecology as a consideration during the construction and development process.
Recently, the paper "Dugong Functional Extinction in China" published in the British journal Royal Society Open Science stated that in recent decades, dugongs have experienced rapid population collapse in China. As soon as this article was published, it attracted attention from all walks of life.
" Mermaid prototype" The functional extinction of dugongs in China once again sounded the alarm for mankind. A series of human activities such as industrial fishing, hunting, over-exploitation of offshore resources have caused the loss of dugong habitat until it became extinct. This exposed series of problems urgently require urgent attention and actions by mankind.
Reintroducing dugongs to form an ecological connection channel
Dugongs, because female dugongs occasionally have the habit of holding their cubs on the water to feed their heads, they often surface on their heads. They look like female hair from a distance, so they are often mistaken for "mermaids". Since four thousand years ago, humans have begun to hunt dugongs, including meat and oil pressing, bones can be carved, and leather can be made. Although dugongs were included in the first-class protected animal of in in as early as 1988, with the increase of human activities, their number is still decreasing. Dugongs, which were once mainly distributed in southern my country, have now become functionally extinct, that is, the population of dugongs has been reduced to a state where they cannot maintain their reproduction under natural conditions. Functional extinction means that the dugong has become extinct at the macroscopic level, but the state of death of the last individual has not been confirmed. The article "Dugong Functional Extinction in China" points out that even if there are still some dugong individuals in Chinese waters, under the current conditions, the continued deterioration of the northern coastal ecosystem of South China Sea means that dugongs have little hope of survival even in the short term, and it is more important to protect dugong habitat at this time.
The nearshore habitat in which dugongs live is highly overlapped with the activity areas of fishermen and other marine resource users, making them vulnerable to pressure from human activities. As a result, dugongs are also listed as a global vulnerable species by World Conservation Union (IUCN). In addition to China, dugongs have also been distributed in countries and regions such as Vietnam, Philippines, Oceania , Latin America, Africa, etc. There are currently no global statistics on the specific population.
According to the Vice Chairman and Secretary-General of the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (hereinafter referred to as the Green Association), the fundamental reason for the functional extinction of dugongs is habitat loss. There are two reasons for the loss of dugong habitat: first, the pollution caused by industry and life to the offshore, the large-scale disappearance of seaweed, resulting in the lack of food for "vegetarian" dugongs; second, the excessive development and utilization of offshore by fishing, freight, tourism, etc.
Although dugongs may now be extinct in China, efforts to assess, protect and restore seagrass ecosystems along the northern coast of the South China Sea (i.e., the key habitats for dugongs and the broader region biodiversity ) have become a priority for Chinese waters along with the protection of other marine habitats. Zhou Jinfeng told reporters from Xiaokang magazine and China Xiaokang Network that the first condition and core of dugong reintroduction is to restore and rebuild its habitat, and the second condition is to form an ecological connection channel, allowing dugongs to return to China's offshore waters along the built migration channel. For restoring traditional habitats, solutions to existing problems are needed in and around the protected areas where dugongs were active in the past. First, control sand mining and mining activities in offshore waters.Secondly, although pollution control has been effective in recent years, the problem of illegal pollutant discharge still exists, and domestic and industrial sewage emissions must be strengthened. Zhou Jinfeng pointed out that there is currently a phenomenon: all sewage discharges are within the range of qualified indicators, but from the perspective of biological survival, the ocean is indeed still being polluted. Finally, scientific planning, moderate adjustments, and strictly limit the development of new offshore tourism resources.
In order to promote the restoration of the ecosystem in the northern coastal seas of the South China Sea where the "Dugong Protection Area" is located, and allow more people to raise their awareness of protection, the Green Association has established a dugong research team. In addition to studying the exact reasons for the disappearance of dugongs in my country, it also needs to study the survival status of the species, population migration, reproduction and long-term ecological reconstruction. The purpose is to promote the population recovery research of the rare marine species dugong, as well as the restoration of the entire ecosystem on which the species relies.
Next, the work of the Dugong research group includes studying the habitat of dugong and the current situation of the Dugong Reserve in Beibu Gulf, studying all dugong reserves and dugong migration routes, and making suggestions to relevant departments to avoid dugong migration routes such as shipping and fishing as much as possible.
"I hope that through everyone's efforts, I can see the dugong again in China in 5 years." Zhou Jinfeng said this.
Habitat protection is the core
At present, the rapid economic growth of my country and countries around the South China Sea is a major manifestation of the increase in coastal economic activities, including fishing, boat tourism, marine construction, etc. These activities are changing the structure and function of key marine habitats, affecting wider biodiversity in marine mammals and throughout the region. Whether it is Haihua Island, the largest artificial island in Hainan, or the flat land canal project signed by Guangxi, where the Dugong Reserve is located recently to increase the seaport capacity of the canal, it will have a great impact on the seagrass beds in the offshore waters, the nature of the seabed and the surrounding marine ecology. "From pollution to utilization, green water, green mountains and nature protection should be put scientifically, systematically and fully, and production, development and utilization should be based on the premise of not destroying nature. The functional extinction of Dugong in China is a wake-up call. At present, many projects do not take marine ecology as a consideration during the construction and development process." Zhou Jinfeng said.
Zhou Jinfeng admitted that developing production and improving life is the people’s yearning for a beautiful and happy life and is also our goal. Therefore, it is not that production is not allowed, but that production should be guided by the idea of ecological civilization and insist on harmonious coexistence between man and nature. From preliminary planning to medium-term construction and then to later maintenance, in the process of balancing economic production development and ecological protection, sometimes although nature protection has been taken into consideration, the actual situation is often unsatisfactory.
Zhou Jinfeng shared two such examples. Previously, the Shenzhen Bay waterway dredging project hired the Nanhai Ocean Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to complete the environmental impact assessment work. However, what is ridiculous is that the environmental impact assessment report was eventually found to be fake, which did not comply with relevant regulations such as environmental impact assessment standards and technical specifications, and there were serious quality problems such as obvious false basic data and false content.
Coincidentally, the preliminary planning of Beijing Nanyuan Forest Wetland Park was identified by plant experts and there were no endangered plants in the planned construction area, so the project was able to break ground. Halfway through the construction, it was found that forty or fifty species of birds were inhabited in this area, but now it has been reduced to four or five species. It can be seen from this that even if the project is endorsed by relevant experts, there is still a possibility of being driven by the interests of industrial civilization and generalizing from a single point.
In order to promote the construction of ecological civilization, a series of biodiversity bidding projects have been launched recently in Heilongjiang, Shandong, Fujian, Tibet and other places. Bidding units can be divided into two categories: one is small and medium-sized enterprises in the forest and grassland system. Because the design bid requires forest and grassland qualifications, societies and scientific institutions are not allowed to participate in the bidding. Zhou Jinfeng bluntly stated that biodiversity includes gene diversity , species diversity and ecosystem diversity , and also includes the ecological process. It is a comprehensive scientific issue.Even societies and scientific institutions often cannot complete biodiversity surveys alone, and experts from all fields must be organized to complete them together. The other type is bidding projects initiated by the environmental protection system. Institutions participating in the bidding must have environmental protection qualifications. However, traditional environmental protection institutions are engaged in pollution control, which is a completely different science from biodiversity.
"Relevant institutions and departments are still safeguarding the interests of this system, or using existing and seemingly rules to implement their wishes. The consequences of these actions are often a major damage to the ecology. This phenomenon is widely present." Zhou Jinfeng said that to solve these problems, science, third parties, and different opinions should be fully respected.
At present, the strongest slogan for protecting habitats in the world is "30*30", which refers to 30% of land and 30% of the ocean. Humans should not interfere with it, but turn it into a protected area. This is in line with the "adhering to harmonious coexistence between man and nature" advocated by our country. Zhou Jinfeng pointed out that protecting any animal, whether it is a dugong, giant panda or a Yangtze River sturgeon, is not to capture it and put it in a zoo or experimental center, which is called protection, but to allow them to survive in green waters and green mountains. Biodiversity Protection under ecological civilization is not only the protection of endangered species, but adhering to the concept of "harmonious coexistence between man and nature", caring for all life on the earth with heart, and building a community with a shared future for mankind and a community of life on earth. "This kind of protection is meaningful and valuable. Protecting biodiversity is protecting human memory. They are part of human habitat. Without them, one day, human habitat will no longer exist."
("Xiaokang"·China Xiaokang Network Exclusive article)
This article was published in "Xiaokang" in early October 2022 issue
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