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Rivers Ruined by Mainstream Development: River Management Initiatives in Sichuan and Chongqing Explore the Way Out

PCD has worked in Sichuan Province for a comparatively long time. In 2002, we started to work in rural areas of Sichuan using community-based health service as an entry point. However a discussion of health cannot be separated from the ecological conditions of people's living environment. Because of this, the notion of health was broadened and the concept of 'ecological health' was used to link human health with lifestyle, natural environment and the ecological system.

PCD’s ecological health programme sites in Sichuan are scattered along the banks of a group of small rivers. These rivers have therefore become the nexus of PCD’s Sichuan programme. Rivers can be considered a lifeline for human survival. The development of fisheries and agriculture, together with all our other basic needs in everyday life, depends on having a source of clean and natural water. When rivers are destroyed, our culture withers and our survival is at stake. Today, modernisation and urbanisation are moving forward at a high speed in China, while sustainable living is being undermined by the destruction and pollution of rivers. The management of rivers has become the most pressing issue for human survival.

This issue of the E-newsletter explores the conservation and management of two rivers in Sichuan and Chongqing, examining such issues from diverse perspectives, including the holistic approach. A technical strategy characterised by sporadic and piecemeal steps that treat only the symptoms is not enough: a systematic response is necessary to address the problems facing rivers. The crux is to train a local conservation force and to document experience as well as to refine solutions from experience. For example, in initiatives to build an eco-village and to implement community projects for the local economy in a community along the bank of Huaxi River in mountainous northeast Sichuan, the conservation of water resources, water environment, aquaculture industry and water culture has to be considered in a comprehensive manner. It involves elements of culture (the cultural ethos of showing respect to water and nature), natural ecology, economy and environmental protection, and how to manage them in a holistic manner. In the city of Chongqing, the water basin of the Heishuitan River is being destroyed by pollution. Living things in the river are nearly extirpated, and villagers are at risk of losing their source of drinking water. Through education and consciousness-raising initiatives, we have been working with the villagers to alleviate the problem and to explore ways to address its root causes so as to build a sustainable way of living.

1. The Source of Rural Culture: The Story of River Management at an Ecological Village, Bolinwan - By Zhang Haoliang (Secretary-General of Daba Mountain Ecology and Poverty Issue Research Institute, Sichuan; Forestry Engineer)
2. Love Her Deeply: An Account of the Conservation of the Aquatic Life of Heishuitan River - By Wang Pei (Group Leader of Heishuitan River Ecology Conservation Group, a residents’ organisation of the old town of Pianyan in Beibei District of Chongqing City)
3. Facing the Truth and Making a Concerted Effort to Solve Problems: The Story of the Construction of a Reservoir for Drinking Water at the Upper Reaches of Heishuitan River - By Lu Yinchun (Programme Assistant, Chongqing Public River Environment Protection Cultural Centre)