The Ecological Code Behind the Frequent Wintering of Wildlife in Chongqing

Recently, the Chinese autumn sand duck, known as the “panda among birds,” appeared on the banks of the Qihe River in Xihu Town, Jiangjin District, Chongqing. Xinhua (photo by Liu Mingsheng)

As the weather gets colder in the north, many migratory birds are migrating south to avoid the winter. Recently, the Qi River Valley in Jiangjin, Chongqing welcomed a group of “VIPs,” the Chinese sand ducks, known as the “giant panda among birds.

The Chinese sand duck, a rare and endemic bird of East Asia, is a key animal under national-level protection and an internationally endangered species, and its numbers are extremely low. It prefers to inhabit fast-flowing, crystal-clear rivers with rapids and shallows, and rivers rich in fish resources, and is very “picky” about water quality.

The number of Chinese sand ducks is inextricably linked to the quality of the wetland ecosystem.

According to public records, since the discovery of the Chinese autumn sand duck in Qihe in the winter of 2012, it has been wintering in Chongqing for eight consecutive years, and the number of Chinese autumn sand ducks has been steadily increasing. According to the survey statistics of Chongqing Bird Watching Society, the number of Chinese sand ducks found in Chongqing over the winter of 2013-2014 reached 35. In the winter of 2016-2017, the number of Chinese sand ducks has reached 61.

In fact, as the natural ecology continues to improve, more and more wildlife has fallen in love with the city. In recent years, new bird records have been set every year in Chongqing, and the “Chongqing Bird List 4.0 (2019)” released in 2019 announced the first discovery of the critically endangered bird, the green-headed diving duck, in Chongqing.

In May this year, the first discovery of a national-level protected animal, the forest musk, was made in Jiangjin’s Sifian Mountain by an infrared camera, and in early November, the world’s endangered bird, the red-bellied tragopan, was spotted in Nanchuan’s Jinfo Mountain in Chongqing. Recently, red-billed gulls have been crossing Chongqing’s border and congregating in large numbers in the main city, including the area where the two rivers meet.

According to Lei Bo, a senior engineer at the Chongqing Research Institute of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, wildlife is sensitive to changes in the ecological environment, and its species and quantity are the most direct reflection of the quality of the regional ecological environment. The “frequent appearance” of wild animals in Chongqing indicates that the quality of the regional ecological environment has improved and ecological functions are recovering.

Testing personnel are conducting water quality testing and sampling (file photo). Photo by Bloomberg, Xinhua

Iron fist control of pollution, strict adherence to ecological safety “lifeline “

“I dreamed that the Longxi River would be crystal clear again, but I didn’t think I could make a contribution. Tan Jun, a private river chief of the Dianjiang section of Longxi River, is very impressed by the gorgeous transformation of the former “stinky river”.

The Longxi River is a tributary of the Yangtze River, flowing through Liangping District, Dianjiang County and Changshou District, with a total length of 229.8 kilometers and a watershed area of 3,280 square kilometers. However, just five years ago, the mother river of Dianjiang County was still experiencing “pains”. “Longxi River water pollution was at its worst when the water quality was poor ,” Tan Jun said, “As a native of Dianjiang, Longxi River holds the childhood memory of catching fish and shrimps, and he was deeply distressed by the pollution of Longxi River.

In order to thoroughly manage Longxi River, in recent years, Dianjiang focused on the management of industrial water pollution, urban living pollution, agricultural and rural pollution in three areas, vigorously implement the precise, key, co-management of the “Three Toughs”, and for the cleanup of water-related pollution sources, using list management, pin acceptance, etc., the implementation of the wall chart warfare, the implementation of the Longxi River Pollution Prevention and Control Program, the implementation of the Longxi River Pollution Prevention and Control Program. Precise treatment of sewage, sewage gradually cleaned up. The water environment management of Longxi River basin has also been praised by the State Council as a typical experience of the fifth major inspection.

The treatment of a river, enhance a city. The management of Longxi River is only a microcosm of Chongqing’s iron fist in pollution control to improve the entire water ecological environment. In recent years, Chongqing has established a management system for the list of key river basin remediation and a water quality data consultation system for key rivers, regularly evaluating the effectiveness of water quality improvement in key river basins, forming teams to carry out normalized supervision and guidance for key river basins, and providing technical support for water environment remediation in key river basins, so that the green water will flow forever.

It is worth mentioning that in July this year, in order to protect the blue water of a river, the ecological and environmental protection systems of Sichuan and Chongqing also explored the establishment of a cross-border linkage inspection mechanism for ecological and environmental protection in the Xinsheng River basin, a transboundary river. The two ecological environmental protection inspector agencies and local ecological and environmental departments in the early linkage problem mapping, sharing problem clues, based on joint investigation and verification of the new Sheng River (Ren Shi River) in the basin of life, industry, livestock and poultry farming, aquaculture, lotus root planting and other pollution problems, deep investigation of the root cause of the problem, and urge rectification. Today, through the joint efforts of the two sides, the water quality of the Xinsheng River has changed from the original , to three months of Class II water.

As of November 20, Chongqing had dispatched more than 120,000 law enforcement officers to carry out special actions to rectify sewage discharges, and found 1,434 problem spots, which have been rectified 1,404, with plans to complete the rectification by the end of this year.

Chongqing Ecological Environment Bureau officials said that they will always adhere to the focus on the chaos, the iron fist to control pollution, and take comprehensive measures to maintain a high pressure to crack down on environmental violations, to implement “zero tolerance” for all kinds of environmental violations, and strictly guard the ecological safety “lifeline. “.

The inspectors are taking samples for atmospheric testing (file photo). Photo by Peng Bo, Xinhua

Heavy fist of protection “blue” so that the mountain city “temperament” better

“The blue sky is always there, and the air I breathe is fresher, and that’s what I’ve been feeling most sincerely for the past few years.” Hu Bo says he is a professional maintenance engineer for grease purification facilities, checking purification equipment, cleaning filters, and debugging installations.

With the help of Hu Bo, many restaurants, which had been the subject of many complaints and dislikes from residents, have recently welcomed a new atmosphere.

“In the past, they didn’t install fume purification equipment, but just used fans to discharge directly into the atmosphere, which was often complained by residents of the surrounding area, and their business was often hindered.” Li Dejun, owner of a large stall in Wansheng, said that after the installation of purification equipment last year, relations with the surrounding residents have improved, and business is also more and more up.

Catering fumes are a major issue in residents' lives, and are a very important part of air pollution prevention and control work. At the beginning of the year, Chongqing Air Pollution Prevention and Control Command for the key areas and outstanding issues, developed a targeted governance measures, clear more than 2,000 key projects, food and beverage fumes remediation is one of the important content. So far, in the control of living pollution, Chongqing completed public institutions canteen soot remediation 3085, catering soot remediation 6298, demarcation of highly polluting fuel no-flammable area 3181 square kilometers.

At the same time, Chongqing also grasped the diesel vehicle remediation, exhaust gas depth management, grading control of urban dust. In the control of traffic pollution, Chongqing implementation of the main city part of the road high-emission vehicles, a total of 61,000 out of treatment of old diesel vehicles; in the control of industrial pollution, a total of 19 coal-fired thermal power units of 8.02 million kilowatts of ultra-low emission transformation, more than 700 key enterprises volatile organic control, more than 800 industrial furnace exhaust gas treatment and upgrading, 223 sets of gas boilers clean, and the total number of vehicles in the city. Energy transformation, more than 1,000 coal-fired boilers eliminated; in the control of dust pollution, the creation and consolidation of dust control demonstration sites, demonstration roads more than 2,500 places, the central city main roads machine sweeping rate of 93%, green coverage of 6.97 million square meters of bare ground.

In addition, Sichuan and Chongqing also continue to carry out in-depth joint prevention and control of air pollution. So far, the two sides have jointly carried out five rounds of joint assistance, 242 inspections of enterprises, transfer of 159 problem clues, joint law enforcement investigation and handling of violations of the 27.

The environment is people’s livelihood, green water is beautiful, and blue sky is happiness. Chongqing Ecological Environment Bureau officials said, the next step, the city will focus on strengthening pollution weather forecasting and early warning response, strengthen guidance and assistance, pay close attention to emergency response, strengthen publicity and guidance, strive for every “blue sky”, make the mountain city “quality” better.

This is a drone shot of the Chongqing cityscape on April 8, urban ecology leaps out. Xinhua (Wang Zhengkun, photo)

Green ecology, continuous improvement of environmental quality.

A good ecological environment is the fairest public product, the most inclusive well-being of the people, the environment is people’s livelihood, green hills are beautiful, blue sky is also happy.

In 2019, the overall water quality of the main stream of the Yangtze River in Chongqing is excellent, the proportion of excellent water quality of 42 state examination section is 97.6%, the Yangtze River tributaries to completely eliminate poor V water quality section. From January to October this year, the water quality of the Chongqing section of the Yangtze River main stream is excellent, and the percentage of excellent water quality in 42 sections of the national examination is 97.6%, an increase of 2.4 percentage points year-on-year.

It is reported that in 2013, Chongqing had 206 days of excellent air quality, and in 2019, it will reach 316 days, an increase of 110 days from 2013. This year, as of November 24, Chongqing air quality excellent days reached 304 days, an increase of 16 days; 127 days of excellent days, an increase of 19 days, has exceeded last year’s level. 31 micrograms per cubic meter PM2.5 concentration, down 13.9%. Meanwhile, there were 31 districts and counties in the city with more than 300 days of excellent air quality, an increase of 15 days compared to last year. For the first time since monitoring records began, all six air quality indicators have met the standard, which is the best level in history.

Local scholars believe that in recent years, by continuously increasing pollution prevention and control, strengthening source control and scientific management, compressing supervisory responsibility, continuously improving the ecological and environmental protection system, and increasing capital investment, the quality of Chongqing’s ecological environment has been continuously improved. Red-billed gulls, mid-autumn and autumn sand ducks and other wild frequently come to Chongqing for the winter, which is an important manifestation of the continuous improvement of the ecological environment in Chongqing.

“Blue sky, white clouds, green land and green hills, and a green ecological living environment will give citizens a greater sense of achievement and happiness. Chongqing will always treat this systematic project of environmental management as a major livelihood issue, and will do its best to guard the green hills, green water and blue sky and build a beautiful Chongqing with beautiful mountains and clear water.” Relevant officials of Chongqing Ecological Environment Bureau said. (Chen Yu)