China said that 90% of the country’s rivers and lakes have reached the highest water-quality standard. This result is the outcome of a decade of efforts to combat pollution.
The country is now launching a new ten-year program to restore river ecosystems. The plan includes reviving fish spawning grounds, protecting bird migration routes, maintaining necessary water levels in rivers, and developing natural buffer zones. The main goal is to stop the decline in water animal populations by 2030, protect biodiversity in the Yangtze and Yellow River basins, and at the same time create well-kept, environmentally friendly urban riverfronts.
In this way, China shows that even in industrial and densely populated regions, environmental progress is possible.
