Ecological protection of the Three Gorge Reservoir wetland would influence the development of the Yangtze River area and even the whole of northern China.
According to international agreements such as the Convention on Biological Diversity, ratified by China in 1993, and also according to nature reserve purpose statements (e.g. Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve), the well-being of local people should be considered simultaneously with the biodiversity conservation and ecological protection mandates of formal protected areas.
The time and place for a solid narrative that links poverty reduction to ecological protection seems finally to have arrived.
Criteria included the amount of food provided from the ocean, jobs created, ecological protection and contribution to climate change.
"We must strengthen ecological protection and control pollution in the reservoir area... and the prevention and control of geological disasters".
One workshop entitled 'Amendment to philosophical basis' highlighted an internal party conflict between members concerned primarily with ecological protection and those more interested in social justice.
"Although the Three Gorges project provides huge comprehensive benefits, urgent problems must be resolved regarding the smooth relocation of residents, ecological protection and geological disaster prevention," the statement said.
The researchers found that five forest patches with high levels of ecological protection – one national park, one biological reserve and three private reserves – retained the highest diversity of animals.
"Although the Three Gorges project provides huge comprehensive benefits, urgent problems must be resolved regarding the smooth relocation of residents, ecological protection and geological disaster prevention," the Council said.
The protection-is-bad view would be so conclusively disproved by the combination of declining pollution and economic boom in the 1990's that today Whitman sounds almost indistinguishable from Al Gore when she says, "Ecological protection and economic development can go hand in hand".
In a paper published in the Bulletin of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mr. Du and two co-authors estimated that the diversion project would reduce the flow of the middle and lower stretches of the Han significantly, "leading to an uphill situation for the prevention of water pollution and ecological protection".
