Yunnan wetland park vital in deterring lake pollution

Laoyuhe River Wetland Park, next to Dianchi Lake in Kunming, capital of Southwest China's Yunnan province, has become an important ecological shield for controlling lake pollution and a popular recreation spot for local residents, according to Wu Tao, the city's deputy-mayor.

The wetland, on the east coast of Dianchi Lake and at the mouth of one of the main rivers that flows into the lake, occupies an area of 53 hectares and is 75 percent wetlands. The park's integrated construction started in 2014, and it opened to the public the next year.

It mainly consists of a river, coastal forests, some swamps, and water from the lake.

According to Wu, the new wetland park has multiple functions, including protection and the recovery of the damaged wetland ecosystem via the introduction of river water into carefully planned metasequoia forests near the river's mouth, Wu said.

It also offers local residents a good destination to learn about wetlands and be close to nature, he added. The park has been visited by five million people since it opened two years ago, according to figures from local government.

"It is also an important place for science popularization, scientific research and ecological monitoring,"Wu explained, adding that the park has been approved as a provincial base for science popularization and education.

After two years, the park has been able to support its own operation with income from tickets for special activities, such as flower exhibitions and parking fees, which is a rare example of wetland parks realizing financial balance on their own, according to Tu Shaoyun, an official from the local environmental protection department.

The wetland park also has helped relieve employment problems by hiring more than 200 local residents, Tu said.

According to Wu, the wetland park is among many ecological projects the city launched in recent years in an effort to improve the ecological environment in the Dianchi Lake region, on which the city's economic and social development is heavily dependent.

The city has approved a three-year plan to carry out integrated protection and recovery of the lake's environment. Starting this year, it will invest a total of 7.6 billion yuan in 64 city-level key projects, and another 6.5 billion yuan on more than 140 district-level key projects.