Statement regarding the National Nature Reserve of Rare and Endemic Fish in the Upper Yangtze River

[Below is a statement from Professor Fan Xiao, a geology and
environmental scientist in China, which has been endorsed by a number of
Chinese groups including Friends of Nature and Green Earth Volunteers.]

The original text in Chinese can be found here:
http://www.greensos.cn/ContentPage.aspx?xh=97420
and here:
http://www.guojiheliu.org/a/rivernews/china/2012/0104/373.html?1325639555

On December 12, 2011, the State Council of the People's Republic of
China, through Decree [2011] No. 156, issued a notice that the State
Council supports the Ministry of Environmental Protection in adjusting
the range of the National Nature Reserve of Rare and Endemic Fish in the
Upper Yangtze River. At 16:26 on December 14, 2011, this notice was
promulgated on the website of The Central People's Government of the
People's Republic of China.

These modifications to the areal extent of the National Nature Reserve
of Rare and Endemic Fish in the Upper Yangtze River are intended to
eliminate the obstacles associated with the proposed Yangtze River's
Xiaonanhai Hydropower Station. The size of the protected area will
drastically shrink as a result. The dam will also sever the rare and
endemic fishes' only passage to their breeding grounds, critically
transforming the protected area's natural habitat and ecology. This
approval not only damages the entire structure and function of the
Reserve, but also seriously undermines conservation targets and goals.
Furthermore, it violates relevant rules stipulated by the People's
Republic of China's "Environmental Protection Law," "Wildlife Protection
Law," "Regulations on Nature Reserves," "Regulations on Amending the
Range and Function and Changing the Names of National Nature Reserves."

When deliberating on decisions for major issues or projects, the
government should prioritize the overall interests of society and
citizens as its key consideration. It should exercise justice, promote
harmony, and administer its public responsibilities in accordance with
the law, not succumb to its own or industries' short-term interests.
Doing so not only undermines the interests of society and future
generations, but also escalates progress for non-scientific and
non-rational development all the while exacerbating environmental
damages. In 2005, this Reserve's extent was already modified for the
downstream construction of the massive Jinsha Hydropower Station. The
Ministry of Environmental Protection firmly declared at the time that,
"It should be clarified both in revised planning and in construction
that no more hydropower project is to be developed in the trimmed nature
reserve."

However, this repeated approval to amend the size of the Reserve is
undoubtedly a major detriment to the supremacy of the law and
credibility of the government. It is also a serious deviation from the
government's commitment to uphold only scientifically-sound development
that concurrently accounts for environmental impacts. These changes mark
a new "milestone" - one that will devastate the Upper Yangtze's aquatic
organisms and ecosystems - and leave behind a shameful chapter in
China's social development and environmental protection.

We express our opposition to modifying the areal extent of the National
Nature Reserve of Rare and Endemic Fish in the Upper Yangtze River. We
express our opposition to constructing the Xiaonanhai Hydropower
Station. We call upon all who are concerned about the global environment
and sustainable development of human society to think about the Yangtze
River. Protect the Yangtze River!

Fan Xiao (Chinese Citizen, Geology and Environmental Scholar, Professor
and Senior Engineer)
December 16, 2011

(Unofficial translation: C. Ngo)
________________________________________________

You received this message as a subscriber on the list: china@list.internationalrivers.org

To be removed from the list, please visit:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2486/unsubscribe.jsp