Documentation:Open Case Studies/FRST522/2022/The involvement of communities in mangrove management in China: a case study of the Zhanjiang Mangrove National Nature Reserve, Guangdong province

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[1]Summary of Case Study

China has successfully curbed the sharp shrinking of mangrove though effective protection and large-scale artificial afforestation[2] . This article will make a general conclusion about China’s mangrove conservation and explain why the conservation strategy has been shifted from afforestation to restoring ecosystems. As the expensive large-scale afforestation efforts are unsustainable and might involve unacceptable ecological risks, many Chinese nature reserves are looking to community participation to help protect and restore mangroves in the long term. Meanwhile, use the Zhanjiang Mangrove National Nature Reserve - China’s first co-management model, as a case study to intro[3]duce its background and historical development, analyze different stakeholders’ interests and make an assessment of its co-management model. Finally, some challenges are concluded, and put forward several suggestions: continuing to promote the co-management model, more diverse funds from various, strengthening external cooperation and improving management level; standardizing relevant legal systems and supervision and management systems.

Keywords[4]

mangrove conservation; involvement of communities; Zhanjiang National Mangrove Nature Reserve; co-management; China

Introduction

1. China’s mangrove distribution

Mangroves are woody plant communities that grow widely in the intertidal zone along tropical and subtropical coasts[5]. Although mangroves cover less than 1% of the total area of the world’s tropical forests, they are one of the marine ecosystems with the highest biodiversity and productivity, and also one of the natural ecosystems with the highest ecological service function, which is of great significance for maintaining biodiversity[5].

Picture1:Distribution of mangroves in China (numbers on the map stand for the numbers of true mangrove plant type)

China’s Mangrove forests are mainly distributed in provinces of Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Hainan, Guangxi, as well as Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan[5]. Among them, three southern provinces (Hainan, Guangdong and Guangxi) account for 94% of the total mangrove area, and Guangdong province has the largest existing mangroves, followed by Guangxi and Hainan[6]. Meanwhile, there are some small areas of natural mangroves in Hong Kong and Macau[6]. Mai Po Wetland in Hong Kong is the first mangroves reserve in China, which was established in 1976 and listed as Ramsar Site in 1995 [6]. Up to date, a total of 52 mangrove nature reserves have been established in China[7]. Over 75% of its natural mangroves now fall within protected areas, compared to the global average of 42%[2].

2. Current situation and changes of China’s mangrove management

The mangroves are fragile ecosystems and the world’s mangroves are decreasing at an alarming rate, which may be faster than inland forests and tropical rainforests[8]. Due to the influence of human activities and climate change in the past few decades, mangrove ecosystems worldwide are facing serious problems such as area reduction, functional degradation, and biodiversity loss[5].

Table 1 Changes of Mangrove Area in China

Mangrove situation in China is no exception. Before the mangrove’s important ecological and economic values were recognized by Chinese publics in early 1990s, mangroves had been degraded seriously and he estimated mangrove area has fallen sharply from nearly 50,000 hectares in the early 1950s to 22,000 hectares in the year of 2000, representing a 55% of area loss[5][9]. Since 2000, however, strict conservation measures and large-scale planting have successfully made China curb decline in mangrove area, which has increased to 30,000 hectares in 2019, at an annual growth rate of 1.8%, making China one of the few countries in the world with a net increase in mangrove area[5]. Thus, in the past two decades, China apparently made apparent success in mangrove conservation and reforestation[6].

However, in the past almost 20 years, Chinese forest authorities used to designate mangrove as a “forestry resource” rather than an “ocean ecosystem”, which means that restoration meant planting trees, and success was measured by area planted[2]. A 2017 national plan for coastal barrier forests included a target of afforesting over 48,000 hectares – a far greater area than is suitable for mangroves[2]. This wrong approach made some bad consequences, for example, some shoals were even artificially raised to improve success rates of planting trees, which was an expensive way and might be dangerous for local ecosystems[2]. The authorities and experts have started to worry if the expensive afforestation efforts are sustainable and if they might involve unacceptable ecological risks. In the new 2020-2025 action plan for restoring mangroves shrunk the target to over 9,000 hectares and it also stressed the need for “comprehensive protection of mangrove ecosystems”[2]. Therefore, at the national level at least, China’s management of mangrove is shifting from planting areas of trees to restoration and protection of ecosystems.

3. Major issues associated with China’s mangrove conservation and restoration

Mangrove protection and restoration in China still face many challenges. There are main reasons result in the rapid degradation of mangrove ecosystems in China are: sea-land barrier /Seawall, pollution by aquaculture, and biological invasion[5].

Among them, the most serious cause of mangrove destruction is converting to aquaculture ponds. From 1980 to 2000, around 13,000 hectares of mangrove were taken over in China, with 97.6% of that being used for aquaculture[2]. The tidal flat afforestation becomes increasingly difficult because of the remaining tidal flat suitable for direct afforestation in China are very limited[5]. However, China has a large area of idle area aquaculture ponds and ponds within the red line of the nature reserve, and the incomplete figures put that area at almost 10,000 hectares in 2018, an area equivalent to more than one-third of China’s existing mangroves[2][5]. Hence, it is one of the imperatives to convert those ponds to forests for ecological restoration of mangrove forests in the country[5].

4. China’s exploring of the involvement of communities in mangrove management

Participatory forest management has been considered as a practical and effective strategy for sustainable forest management, especially in situations where land tenure is not securely settled[10]. The idea of involving the community is not new in China. The final line of the 2020-2015 action plan appeals to mobilize the public to participate in mangrove conservation, with the necessary mechanisms in place[2]. However, in the eight provincial-level and six national-level mangrove reserves, only the Zhanjiang Mangrove National Nature Reserve (ZMNNR) in Guangdong province has community involvement on its day-to-day agenda[2].

Zhanjiang Mangrove National Nature Reserve

1.Basic background

Site map of Zhanjiang Mangrove National Nature Reserve

Zhanjiang Mangrove National Nature Reserve is located in Zhanjiang City in the southwest of Guangdong Province, which is scattered in a belt pattern on the coastal mudflats of Leizhou Peninsula, spanning four counties/cities of Zhanjiang City, namely Xuwen country, Leizhou city, Suixi country and Lianjiang city, and four districts of Mazhang, Potou, Donghai and Xiashan, with incorporating 39 villages and townships, and 2.44 million people[2][11].

The total area of protection is 20,278.8 hectares, including more than 9,000 hectares of mangroves, accounting for 33% of the total area of mangroves in the country and 79% of the total area of mangroves in Guangdong Province, which is the largest, most diverse and most concentrated nature reserve along the coast of China[11][12]. It is a forest and wetland type nature reserve, the main object of protection is the tropical mangrove wetland ecosystem and its biodiversity, including mangrove resources, adjacent mudflats, water surface and wildlife inhabiting the forest[11]. However, the current biggest problem for ZMNNR is the 4,800 hectares of aquaculture ponds located within this reserve[2].

2. Historical development of ZMNNR

Overall, the Zhanjiang mangrove covers a large area and its distribution is scattered, making it difficult to supervise and protect. In particular, in the mid-1980s, affected by activities such as reclamation of land from the sea, pond cultivation, the area of mangroves declined sharply[1]. Since 1990, Zhanjiang has reversed the sharp decline of mangrove areas by strengthening management through the establishment of natural reserves and other measures, supplemented by artificial afforestation. The greatest outcoming achieved by ZMNNR since its establishment is the almost-stop of deforestation of shrimp and fish farming due to its legal enforcement and patrolling[13].

From 1950s to 1990

Mangrove afforestation was initiated in the late 1950s, interrupted from 1966 to 1979 due to the Chinese Cultural Revolution, then resumed in 1980[4]. During 1966 to 1979, a large scale of mangroves was logged for salt industry and paddy fields[4]. The situation in Zhanjiang was similar, especially in the mid-1980s, the mangrove communities were fragmented, and the area declined sharply due to the influence of activities such as sea enclosures, pond farming and salary extraction[3].

1990: Establishment of Zhanjiang Mangrove Reserve

The Guangdong Provincial Government approved the establishment of Zhanjiang Mangrove Provincial Nature Reserve on January 1,1990, which aims to protect the mangrove-related bird resources in the town of Gaoqiao, Lianjiang City, covering an area of more than 2,000 hectares[13].

1992: Establishment of provincial reserve management station

Approved by the Guangdong Provincial Forestry Bureau, the provincial reserve management station was established in Gaoqiao Town, Lianjiang City[13].

1995: Applying to upgraded as a national nature reserve

The Zhanjiang municipal government applied to expand the area of the reserve and applied to upgrade it to a national reserve[13].

1997: Upgraded to a national reserve

It was approved by the State Council to be upgraded to a national reserve and renamed Guangdong Zhanjiang Mangrove National Nature Reserve on November 7,1997[13].

2002: Included on the list of Ramsar Convention[14]

An inclusion into the Ramsar list in January 2002 enabled the reserve to become an internationally important area in protecting biodiversity and ecosystem[15].

2006: Appointed as a national demonstration reserve[15]

2012: Become a member of the MAB (Man and Biosphere, China) Network[15]

2017: The “Administrative measures for Zhanjiang Mangrove National Nature Reserve” issued

In order to solve the historical problem which many mangroves had been destroyed by aquaculture and ponds in the eighties and nineties of the last century, since 2017, Zhanjiang Mangrove National Nature Reserve Management Bureau has taken the opportunity of the central environmental protection supervision and rectification work to actively carry out the removal and return of aquaculture ponds in the Reserve[16]. In the same year, the Measures for the Administration of Mangrove National Nature Reserve in Zhanjiang, Guangdong was promulgated, providing a legal basis for the protection of mangroves[14].

Tenure arrangements and administrative arrangment of ZMNNR

Ownership and land tenure

In China, land is owned by the state according to the law, including the mangrove land. Even if ownership of land is unalterable, mangrove forests can be private property[4]. Most of mangrove forests in China belong to the state; some are in the possession of communities; and few are private forests[4]. To encourage private investment in forestry, Chinese government has adopted some policies to allow private management of state-owned forests in the form of contract (lease term 50-70 years), hoping that the investment in forestry will be increased and the management of forests will be improved. For this reason, private mangrove forests can be expected to expand in the future[4]. As for the mangrove forests in Zhanjiang, the land ownership and land tenure were authorized to the State and the nature reserve respectively when the provincial reserve was established[11][4]. The land tenure and land ownership in surrounding areas are in the hands of local collectives and individuals[4]. The local people can use the surrounding land for growing crops, fruits and vegetable, and the catchments which located in coastal shallow areas as the public land used for local people’s fishing ground or waterways for transportation[4][17].

Administrative arrangement

The management organization of the Reserve is Administrative Bureau of Zhanjiang Mangrove National Nature Reserve (Reserve Bureau), which was officially established in 2005 is a unit directly under the jurisdiction of Guangdong Provincial Forestry Department and Zhanjiang municipal government, with one director and two deputy directors[17][16]. It has 25 staff members and four functional sectors: the administrative offices, the scientific research publicity and education sector, the resource management and protection sector and the sustainable utilization sector, and five management stations directly under the jurisdiction of Xuwen, Leizhou, Suixi, and Lianjiang[16]. The nature reserve implements a three-level resource management system of “headquarter (Reserve Bureau) – field station (protection management station) – protection plot[15].

Community-Based Co-Management

Community-Based Co-Management (CBCM) is the process of community participation in the decision-making, implementation and evaluation of the protection and management plan of the reserve in order to achieve the dual goals of ecological protection and sustainable development of the community[18]. Zhanjiang divides the mangrove reserve into core area, buffer area and experimental area, and implements different management methods[19][14]. The core area forbids entry of any unit or individual, and the buffer zone allow some teaching and scientific research related activities[19]. In the experimental area, the Reserve Management Bureau signed a joint management agreement with the relevant township government, village committee and other units to achieve joint management of 4575.97 hectares of aquaculture ponds, and allow moderate aquaculture based on ensuring the normal growth of mangroves[19].

Some areas of the ZMNNR actively attract local community residents to participate in the regular investigation, patrol, supervision, afforestation, and conduct maintenance[3]. As some form of government incentive, the Reserve Management Bureau helps villages to build roads, install street-light and even share the development achievements with the communities[3]. Meanwhile, it also sets up some mangrove education centers to popularize the knowledge of mangrove protection laws and regulations[3]. One of the most successful international mangrove cooperation projects is the “Integrated Mangrove Management and Coastal Protection (IMMCP)” with the Dutch government from 2001 to 2005[20]. It established the first mangrove community co-management pilot area in China, organized and implemented participatory rural assessment, prepared and implemented the mangrove community co-management plan, and achieved remarkable results[21]. The project provides a good platform for all stakeholders to participate in the protection, management and rational use of mangrove resources, and promotes the effective protection and sustainable use of mangrove wetland resources in our city[21].

Affected Stakeholders

Affected Stakeholders Main Relevant Objectives/Rights Power & Interest
Local communities -access to ZMNNR’s buffer and experimental areas

-major resource users (fishing, aquaculture ponds, grazing, fruit collecting, firewood, digging for invertebrates such as bivalve shells and mangrove worms, etc[11].) in buffer and experimental areas

-own customary right and traditional custom

-participant in co-management activities

-compensation beneficiaries for removal and return of aquaculture ponds in the Reserve

-use the resources in the experimental area to properly carry out eco-tourism, sighting agriculture and other activities in line with the direction of ecological protection

Low power; High interest
Village Committee -participating in the co-management with ZMNNR

-committee leaders elected by the villagers

-election based on religious or clan status[22]

Low power; High interest

Interested Stakeholders

Interested Stakeholders Main Relevant Objectives/Rights Power & Interest
Local Town/Country Government - participating in the co-management with ZMNNR

- town/country/city planning and management

- application for international wetland city accreditation

Medium power, High interest
Zhanjiang Mangrove National Nature Reserve Bureau/

protection management station/ protection points

- organizing the preparation of the overall plan and special plan of the mangrove reserve, formulate and implement the management system

- implementing management and protection measures, strengthen the patrol and law enforcement of mangroves, and strictly manage mangrove wetland resources

- communicating and co-operation with local communities on the mangrove conservation

- implementing national and provincial laws, regulations, guidelines and policies on nature protection

- resource survey and environmental monitoring of mangrove reserves and establishing archives

- organizing or assisting scientific research institutions to carry out scientific research

- carrying out science popularization, publicity and education in the reserve - supervising and management the ecotourism and other activities carried out in the experiment area

High power, High interest
Guangdong Provincial Forestry Department - administrative and legislative power of ZMNNR

- responsible for the approval and release of the province/city wetland planning

- management authority of the ZMNNR

High power, Low interest
Zhanjiang municipal government (Forestry Department) -incorporating the ecological construction of the mangrove reserve into the national economic and social development plan, support the construction and management of the Reserve Medium power, Low interest
Shenzhen Mangrove Wetlands Conservation Foundation (MCF) - resource monitoring, providing data support and decision-making basis for protection management and governance schemes

- controlling alien species invasion and mangrove restoration

- proving training resources and improving the management capacities of the staffs in the Reserve

- demonstration and promotion of community co-management in the Reserve

Low power, Low interest
Integrated Mangrove Management and Coastal Protection (IMMCP) -improving the local management team’s management ability and level

-strengthening the infrastructure construction of mangrove protection area

- survey all the natural resources, including mangroves, birds, fish and shellfish, to provide basis for scientific protection and management

-establishing mangrove nursery and planting 1000 hectares of mangroves artificially

-establishing mangrove environmental education pilot projects, improving public awareness and participate in the protection of mangrove natural resources

-establishing community co-management mangrove pilot (village), formulating and implementing community co-management plan

Low power, Low interest
Sugar factories in the surrounding areas (closed) - Releasing waste water into the wetland and causing nearby offshore mudflats to become eutrophic Low power, High interest

Challenge faced by ZMNNR

1. Land tenure issue

According to the report of government’s official website in 2004, ZMNNR would be demarcated and its rights would be confirmed, which will end the problem of unclear boundaries and ownership of ZMNNR since its establishment, and the boundary demarcation and right confirmation would be completed within 2014[23]. However, it finished the boundary demarcation in 2005, and the demarcation only clarified the administrative scope and area of the reserve without specifying jurisdiction. For the acquisition of exclusive management rights and usage rights, there was a great need for ZMNNR to obtain the tenure-ship for the demarcated protection areas[15].

2. Developing practical routes to sustainable utilization of mangrove resources

Ecological aquaculture and ecotourism have become effective models of sustainable utilization of mangrove wetlands in China[2][5]. The professional ecotourism management team should enrich the content and innovate a new format of ecotourism while expanding the market, improving the quality of citizen science education, and promoting community and social engagement[5]. However, the current mangrove ecotourism in ZMNNR is still in the primary stage, and the content and format lack creativity constituted mostly self-guided sightseeing activity[5]. On the other side, ecological aquaculture which is considered to preserve and enhance the ecosystem could help replace the unsustainable intensive aquaculture ponds[2][5]. It is necessary to innovate the breeding method to achieve a win-win situation of ecological protection and economic development[5]. Zhanjiang officially launched the environmental supervision and rectification of ZMNNR by planting mangroves in the cleared aquaculture ponds[24]. However, only small-scale applications of the ecological aquaculture methods in the reserve. Additionally, both above strategies reach away from the high profit made by destructive approaches such as intensive aquaculture[2].

3. Shortage of comprehensive professional mangrove management personnel

The current personnel structure cannot meet the needs of mangrove protection, management and education, and there is also an urgent need for training of the personnel for improving capabilities in management and protection[5]. Higher educational requirements and professionals with diverse experience are more needed due to the complicated ecotone ecosystem between land and sea[5]. The current management personnel in the Reserve have a low education level and an unreasonable professional structure[5]. The Reserve Bureau has hired some local villagers to participate in the mangrove protection and management work in some specific areas, however, the local hired villagers may not acquire enough professional knowledges and receive skills' training comparing to the official management team.

Recommendations

1. Continuing to expand and promote the co-management model

ZMNNR consisted of 68 protected areas and distributed along 1,500km coastal line of Leizhou Peninsula[15]. Difficulty was anticipated to effectively manage natural resource in the reserve solely depending on the reserve and its administrative staffs[15]. Though some areas in the ZMNNR are implementing the co-management model, but the rights for local communities are still limited. It is still difficult for local communities to participate in the key decision-making and implementation phases. Active participation of people living adjacently in resource management was the most effective solution with a realization of community co-management within the reserve[15]. Uniting communities can help the current Reserve management team mitigate ecological, economic or social destruction to mangroves caused by shortage of human resources for mangrove management and inadequate capital.

2. Raising funds from various sources

Mangrove wetland protection and construction is a public welfare undertaking. However, it needs adequate capital to carry out all kinds of mangrove conservation-related works. According to the implementation plan of the special action plan for the protection and restoration of mangroves in our province, Zhanjiang will build 2813 mangroves by 2025, accounting for 31.1% of the total national task, and repair 1370 hectares of existing mangroves, accounting for 14% of the total national task[14]. This big task also needs enough funds to support the whole process. The current funds mainly come from the state and provincial government grants and a few NGOs[25]. The Reserve Bureau should explore more social funds resources to support the sustainable development of ZMNNR, such as China’s first blue carbon trading project (Zhanjiang Mangrove Afforestation Project)[14] with a 5880-ton carbon emission reduction transfer, which helps ZMNNR to get funds to carry out the ecological restoration of mangroves, providing favorable conditions for the next potential blue carbon projects.

3. Strengthening external cooperation and improving management level

There is still much room for the public to improve their awareness of mangroves[18]. The deviation of residents' cognition will make the mangrove conservation or restoration of mangrove ecosystem failed[18]. The Reserve should continue to co-operate with the professional mangrove domestic and international NGOs to popularize the knowledge of mangrove protection to the villagers. The NGOs can not only provide the financial but also the technic support to the Reserve, especially the successful mangrove protection, conservation and co-management experience, which will definitely improve the overall management level. The successful implementation of the external cooperation projects can play an important role in promoting the protection and development of mangrove wetland resources, improving the popularity of Zhanjiang and promoting sustainable development.

4. Improving and standardizing relevant legal systems and supervision and management systems

The Authority calls for the national or provincial level to introduce the mangrove wetland protection law or management regulations, and increase the punishment for illegal acts that damage the mangrove resources in the Reserve[25]. In addition, laws and regulations specific to the protection of mangrove resources should be issued to regulate the management of mangrove resources[25].

Theme: Community forestry management
Country: China
Province/Prefecture: Guangdong
City: Zhanjiang

This conservation resource was created by Huizi Luo.


References

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