| For thousands of years,Dongting Lake and its environs was a region flowing with milk and honey thanks to its favorable geographical location,geology,fertile soil,suitable climate,large population density and plentiful natural resources.Today,as an important marketable grain base and freshwater fishing area in China,it plays a significant role in promoting the socioeconomic development of Hunan Province.However,after 1949,due to environmental changes and long-term human development activities,many problems have increasingly emerged including sediment accumulation,shrinking of the lake area,low embankments,frequent floods,snail spread,schistosomiasis epidemics,severe pollution from industrial sewage,agricultural and domestic pollutants,and lack of bio-diversity.All these environmental problems seriously constrain the sustainable socioeconomic development of the Dongting Lake area.Consequently,it is essential to study the environmental protection in the Dongting Lake area,from the perspective of the interaction between human society and the environment.Of particular interest is how this systemhas changed to a social consensus rather than the old system of enforcement by local government.All these efforts would be of great academic value in understanding how China transforms its economic pattern from over-exploitation to the construction of an eco-friendly society.Drawing on experience from environmental governance and protection research in the area,done by government and the private sector,is of immediate significance in building a pan-Dongting Lake economic zone and implementing the Green Hunan strategy.Natural factors such as climate and river-lake relations and social factors including increased population,agricultural production,industrialization and urbanization profoundly affect the environmental changes in Dongting Lake.Climate change causes aggravated agricultural natural disaster,reduced fish resources,degraded habitat for migratory birds,exacerbated rat plague,and wide-spread schistosomiasis epidemics.Changes in river-lake relations causes reduced water storage capacity and adjustment capability as well as more frequent floods.Social factors make people change their surrounding environment constantly and actively so that the natural environment can fit people's demand for survival and development,but they also lead to resource shortage and eco-environmental damages.Taking into account the interaction between human activities and environmental changes,we can find that the environmental governance and protection in Dongting Lake area can be separated into three steps which,as a whole,witness a shift from spontaneous process to self-awareness.From 1949 to 1978,agricultural cultivation remained dominant in the area.At that time,the environmental governance focused on farmland reclamation from the lake,floods,and epidemics.Facing so many critical environmental problems,including undermined lake dykes and dams,sediment and precipitate accumulation,floods and pandemics,the central and local government took the governance of the Jingjiang River and Dongting Lake as the top priority in the early days of the founding of the PRC.Since 1952,the Hunan Provincial CPC Committee has carried out a series of measures to restore Dongting Lake based on the conditions of and relationship between Dongting Lake and the Yangtze River,including establishing the Jingjiang River flood diversion project,restoring and repairing lake dykes and dams,and restoring the southern part of Dongting Lake.The government,during that period,wanted to improve the agricultural output and reclaimed plenty of farmland from lakes,leading to decreased lake area and environmental damage.The government raised several slogans such as "taking grain output as our guideline","increasing grain output by reclaiming the lake",and“eliminating snails while promoting output".Consequently,the area also witnessed farmland reclamation from lakes,farmland enclosure and other mismanagement that led to degraded eco-environment.So many dikes separated Dongting Lake,making it more difficult to establish dams and prevent floods and leading to partial water shortage in dry seasons.The reclamation and flood prevention represented the historical features of Dongting Lake in an era featuring agricultural economy.The social and economic development in a region depends on its industrial progress and development.Industrialization and urbanization are the only ways leading to prosperity.It was between 1978 and the end of 20th century that the Dongting Lake Area started its industrialization and urbanization,when the environmental governance concentrated on emerging industrial and urban pollution.After 1978,the region's industry developed very fast and formed a pattern that combined light and heavy industries with heavy industry playing a dominant role.Petrochemical,energy resource,electricity,metallurgical,machinery and other emerging modern industries became important forces in the area and promoted social progress.Industrial civilization created many new social issues when promoting socioeconomic progress,among which the environmental one was predominant.Environmental issues became more serious as industrialization accelerated in the late 1990s,and became the most predominant issue and also the major concern of the province,the country,and even the world at the end of the 20th century.Under this background,the government was aware of environmental protection and established many environmental protection organs.With increasingly improved policies,measures,laws,and regulations,great importance was attached to environmental protection as a fundamental state policy.During this period,local regulations such as the Hunan Environmental Protection Regulation and the Water Pollution Prevention Specification in Hunan Xiang River Basin were improved.Hunan Provincial People's Congress started law enforcement inspection within the province and supervised the implementation of environmental protection laws and regulations.However,governments at all levels still focused too much on economic development and tried to enforce all the compulsory regulations.They were not fully aware of the importance of environmental protection.In the 21st century,the Dongting Lake area witnessed a historical turn in its environmental governance and protection.After serious floods hit the Yangtze River Basin in 1998,the State Council suggested a guideline focusing on ecological protection for disaster relief.In June,2002,Premier Zhu Rongji visited Hunan Province to inspect flood prevention and preparation and stated that Dongting Lake needed to be restored to its vigor and might as in the past.According to Mr.Zhu's instruction,Hunan People's government established the "4350 Project",expecting that the lake coverage could be restored to 4,350 square kilometers as 1949 after the project was completed.In this period,the government and the public reviewed the reasons for degraded eco-environment in the area and formed a social consensus in protecting the area.The local government planned the Green Hunan Strategy based on the national ecological civilization strategy and implemented strict restoration and protection policies,such as encouraging the re-employment of fishermen,shutting down paper mills,facilitating flood discharge through embankments,converting farmlands back to lakes,relocating affected villagers and building new settlements.In April,2004,the State Council passed the Dongting Lake Ecological Economic Zone Planning and listed it as a national-level pilot zone,symbolizing that the areas had stepped into a new era of ecological progress.The transformation from a land flowing with milk and honey to an ecological economic zone,and from a compulsory system to an environmental protection consensus,is the main line in protecting and governing the area's environment.We should draw experience from the past,integrate social power,innovate new management models,intensify our efforts in protecting biodiversity,and govern the lake according to law.In this way,we can form a safe management model and push forward the development of the Dongting Lake ecological economic zone for a new era. |
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