The Qiandao Lake, the largest artificial lake in east China's Yangtze River Delta, has achieved ecological restoration through comprehensive environmental improvement, involving conservation efforts from local cultivators and even financial institutes.
The Qiandao Lake, located in the city's Chun'an County, is an artificial lake built during the construction of the Xin'an River Hydropower Station.
Like dazzling gems,1,078 islands dot the lake and thousands of smaller ones are scattered across it. Hence, the lake has earned the name of "Qiandao Lake," which literally means "Thousand Islands Lake" in Chinese.
Being recognized as an outstanding example of the country's ecological restoration and biodiversity protection efforts, the artificial freshwater lake has seen agricultural plantations around it adopt eco-friendly cultivation to reduce potential harms of insecticide.
"To protect the ecosystem of the Qiandao Lake, we remove the weeds by hand. All the weeds in our navel orange plantation are removed by hand," said Weng Wei, manager of Chun'an Qiandao Lake Jieju Eco-Agricultural Development Company.
Financial efforts have also been launched to promote the region's environmental conservation program. Since 2018, the World Bank has planned 1.5 billion U.S. dollars in loans to Chun'an County for pollution control and forest restoration with local cultivators being encouraged to use more eco-friendly fertilizers.
"We have adopted ecological cultivation in our plantation. We use the organic and the formulated fertilizers promoted by the World Bank programs," Weng said.
The forestry system of the Qiandao Lake, which has distinct features and vulnerabilities, is also included into the environmental improvement efforts, according to Fang Yanjie, senior engineer of Zhejiang Forestry Survey Planning and Design Institute.
"The forests around the Qiandao Lake have distinct features and vulnerabilities. For example, the forests are mainly consisted of Masson's pine, which are evergreen and needleleaf. Because the structures and the species diversity of their underbrushes are rather simple, the forests are relatively vulnerable to pest infestations," said Fang.
In an effort to strengthen ecological resilience, local environmental conservators are also racing to diversify tree species so as to help the lake's forestry system better withstand diseases and pests, Fang added.
East China's scenic lake restores ecological system through comprehensive approach
Zhao Leji, chairman of China's National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, held talks with Tomio Okamura, speaker of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic, in Beijing on Thursday.
Noting that this year marks the 10th anniversary of the China-Czech strategic partnership, Zhao, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said China stands ready to work with the Czech side to carry forward traditional friendship, enhance mutual understanding and trust, strengthen exchanges and cooperation, and promote the sound and steady growth of bilateral relations.
Zhao called on both sides to consolidate the political foundation of their ties, sustain the momentum of improvement in bilateral relations, and resume and step up exchanges and interactions at all levels and across all fields.
Both sides should further tap cooperation potential, give full play to the role of mechanisms such as the economic joint committee between China and Czech and the China-Central and Eastern European Countries Expo, explore ways to strengthen cooperation in new energy, electric vehicles and other fields, and support enterprises of the two countries in expanding investment cooperation, Zhao added.
The NPC is ready to enhance friendly exchanges with the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic, carry out mutual learning and exchanges on legislative supervision, economic development, improvement of people's livelihood, formulate, revise and ratify legal documents conducive to bilateral cooperation, and maintain close communication and collaboration within multilateral mechanisms such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Zhao said.
Zhao also said China is willing to work with all countries, including the Czech Republic, to strengthen exchanges and cooperation in the field of artificial intelligence and promote the establishment of a fair and equitable global governance system for AI.
Okamura said the Czech Republic adheres to the one-China policy, adding that it hopes to strengthen tourism cooperation with China and welcome more Chinese tourists to visit the Czech Republic, expand cooperation in areas such as economy and trade, cultural relic exhibitions, and direct flights, and enhance people-to-people exchanges.
The Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic stands ready to strengthen friendly exchanges with China's NPC and enhance the friendship between the two peoples, Okamura added.
China's top legislator holds talks with speaker of Czech Chamber of Deputies
