“Mega-Cities and Watersheds” Project Launched to promote Nature-based Solutions to Water Crisis

“Mega-cities and their Watersheds: Nature-based Solutions for Sustainable Drinking Water Sources” Project funded by EU China was officially launched on November 26. It has been developed in response to increasing problems related to urban water supply in China’s rapidly growing urban centers. The project was initiated by IUCN. It will be implemented with the support of China EU environmental sustainable project and in partnership with Beijing Forestry Society, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Global Water Partnership China, Guangdong Academy of Forestry, Center for Rural Drinking Water Safety and Ministry of Water Resources.

It will build pilot sites in Beijing's Miyun Watershed and Guangzhou's Jiaquan Watershed. Beijing Forestry Society as a major partner in Beijing, will responsible for implementation of the nature-based solutions in the Miyun Watershed, based on its expertise and many years' experience in the area. The launch event in Beijing was attended by more than 60 representatives of relevant government departments, research institutes, and local and international NGOs. Dr. Wang Xiaoping, BFS Secretary-general, attended the event, and introduced what BFS has done to promote management and protection of the Miyun Watershed. He also made a commitment to providing efforts for ensuring better implementation of the project.

The water crisis in China is a matter of great concern. The per capita availability of water resources is only 2,300 m3, which is 1/4 of the world average and makes China one of 13 countries with the poorest per capita quantity of water resource. Serious water pollution has also added to an annual water shortage of 40 billion m3. More than 400 of the 660 Chinese cities face water shortage. More than 300 million people in the rural areas use unqualified drinking water; over 23 million people and 13 million livestock have no access to clean drinking water from time to time. For example, Beijing has the least per capita water availability in China, which is only 100 m³, less than 1/20 of the national average and far below the internationally defined scarcity of less than 1000 m³ per person per year.

The project approach is to implement specific nature-based ecological restoration and non-pollution control measures in priority sub-basins in pilot watersheds, and undertake watershed health assessment and monitoring activities. Over the next few years, IUCN and its partners will analyze 30-50 Chinese mega-cities and their drinking water sources and watersheds. It will also implement pilot projects in the Miyun and Jiaquan watersheds, conducting analysis of ecosystem functions and services, especially for water supply and purification, and developing strategies to guide landscape restoration. The organization will also undertake watershed health assessment and monitoring, and work with communities to reduce their impacts on the environment. Finally, the project will explore long-term watershed management and financing mechanisms, including integrated watershed management, ecological compensation and payment for ecosystem services. The lessons learned from the pilot projects in Miyun and Jiaquan project will shared with other mega-cities in China through The Partnership for Mega-city Watershed Protection (PMWP).