Chongming district’s eco-island practices showcased at CBD COP17

China presented its experience building a world-class eco-island on Shanghai's Chongming island at the UN Biodiversity Conference (CBD COP17) in Armenia on Oct 23, as part of a China City Day side event in the Blue Zone.

Yu Hai, deputy director of a policy research center under China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment, outlined Chongming's spatial planning, governance, and value-conversion pathways. The island covers one-fifth of Shanghai's land area, accounts for a quarter of its forests and a third of its basic farmland, and supplies 40 percent of the city's ecological resources and half of its ecosystem services.

Aerial view of Chongming's wetland and forest landscape. [Photo/Shanghai Chongming Media Center]

Aerial view of the wetlands and tidal creeks on Chongming Island. [Photo/Shanghai Chongming Media Center]

After more than a decade of work, Chongming's wetland protection rate has reached 60.73 percent, and the share of good air quality days is above 90 percent. It hosts more than 300 migratory bird species, with about 1 million bird visits annually, and has been designated a World Natural Heritage site and an International Wetland City.

Migratory birds flock over the wetlands of Chongming Island. [Photo/Shanghai Chongming Media Center]

Chongming piloted Shanghai's first gross ecosystem product accounting system and completed the city's first carbon-inclusive emission-reduction trade and first pollution-rights trading.

The event brought together nine Chinese local governments and seven local authorities from six countries. Three publications were released, including an English report on Chongming's eco-island practices.