New law strengthens ecological protection of Yellow River headwaters

XINING, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Pasang, an ecological conservator in Chumarle County of Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in northwest China's Qinghai Province, was more energetic this month as he patrolled the headwaters of the Yellow River.

As the Yellow River Protection Law took effect on April 1 in China. Pasang said the law will be a powerful tool to protect the headwaters of the Yellow River.

The law was adopted in October 2022 and features enriched content regarding ecological conservation and restoration, as well as environmental pollution control, in areas along the Yellow River, regarded as China's "Mother River."

The Yellow River is the country's second largest river after the Yangtze. The Yangtze River Protection Law, China's first legislation on a specific river basin, was put into effect on March 1, 2021.

The 55-year-old Pasang who spent his childhood at the headwaters of the Yellow River is now tasked with inspecting the area for potential damage to the water and fish resources, collecting litter, documenting ecological transformations, and raising awareness among local herders about environmental policies.

Previously, certain individuals had come to release exotic fish species into the headwaters of the Yellow River, posing a potential threat to the local ecology. "If there's no serious violation, I would just give verbal warnings to the people to refrain from such acts," Pasang said.

After the law took effect, those who release exotic fish into the Yellow River basin and cause serious consequences may be fined between 100,000 yuan (about 14,527 U.S. dollars) and 1 million yuan.

"The Yellow River is now protected by law. We are all very happy. The state attaches great importance to ecological protection, and local people are becoming increasingly conscious of the importance of ecological conservation," Pasang said, adding that he and his fellow ecological conservators will strictly abide by the law and do their best to protect the headwaters of the Yellow River.

Currently, there are 3,142 ecological conservators who were originally local herdsmen, stationed at the source area of the Yellow River.

According to Gan Xuebin, an official with the administrative committee of the source area of the Yellow River of the Sanjiangyuan National Park, the two large lakes -- Gyaring and Ngoring -- in the Yellow River's headwaters area, saw their surface areas expand by 74.6 and 117.4 square km respectively from 2015. The number of lakes in Madoi, dubbed "the county of a thousand lakes," increased from 4,077 to 5,849.

Wu Haiyong, director of agriculture and animal husbandry comprehensive administrative law enforcement and supervision bureau of Yushu, said that he has been looking forward to the implementation of the law.

"What we informed the people before was mainly the local policy of banning fishing and hunting, which lacked legal deterrence," Wu said. "However, the Yellow River Protection Law clearly prohibits mining, sand mining, fishing and hunting activities in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, and has detailed regulations on other illegal activities, which provides a basis for our work."

Wu is highly satisfied with a specific provision in the law which mandates the establishment of a coordination mechanism to jointly enforce the law in ecologically sensitive areas, between neighboring areas and in major cases involving illegal activities.

"This year, we plan to sign a joint enforcement agreement with the Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, which is also located in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, specifying joint law enforcement event every quarter and forming a long-term mechanism," Wu said.

The Department of Ecology and Environment of Qinghai Province said that according to the Yellow River Protection Law, the province will continue to build an ecological environment monitoring network in the Yellow River basin and promote the analysis and application of environmental data, to serve environmental supervision and law enforcement in key ecological functional areas.