Wintering Migratory Birds Gather at Poyang Lake As China Dam Plans To Threaten Haven

Chinese local government officials have revived controversial plans to dam Poyang Lake, the largest freshwater lake in the nation.

Poyang Lake's water level has been quickly dropping, exposing a sizable portion of its continental coastline since July.

How can Poyang Lake, the biggest freshwater lake and international wetland in China, continue to serve as a refuge for tourists traveling from afar when it hosts hundreds of thousands of migrating birds yearly?

China's Migratory Bird Haven Threatened Due to Dam Plans

Phys.org said the "final best chance" to prevent irreparable human devastation of the planet's species and their ecosystems is being offered by UN biodiversity negotiations being held in Montreal, which are being presided over by China.

The Poyang dam, which has slowly begun to regain its former size after falling to less than a third of it, exemplifies how risky such initiatives are in China.

Once it is built, the 3,000-meter-long sluice gate across one of the lake's channels will shut it off from the Yangtze River, "making Poyang a dead lake," according to conservationist Zhang Daqian.

Manila Times said China has constructed more than 50,000 dams in the Yangtze watershed, including the Three Gorges, over strong objections from environmentalists in

According to data from the environment ministry, at least 70 percent of the wetlands along the river had disappeared within the same time period.

When the project was first planned, objections from ecologists were successful in getting it shelved.

About Poyang Lake

CGTN said water's permeability and connectedness have improved the adjacent wetlands' dry and cracked state, providing a suitable environment for a variety of wintering migratory bird species to rest and graze.

According to the most recent bird survey data from the Poyang Lake Nanji Wetland National Nature Reserve Administration, staff members counted 53 species of birds with 492,591 plumes in reserve in November. Of these, wintering birds made up 71 percent of the total, a clear increase from October, indicating that migratory birds have been arriving in the reserve one by one and have a tendency to stabilize.

Jiangxi Province in November saw a number of precipitation events; as a result, Poyang Lake began to fill up in early December.

Every winter, Poyang Lake's captivating scenery leaves a lasting impression. In addition, the staff of the Poyang Lake Wetland Ecological Protection Center in Yuqan County monitored wintering black storks for the third time after monitoring them in 2016 and 2021. Both of these observations were made by the staff of the Duchang Conservation and Monitoring Station of the Poyang Lake National Nature Reserve.

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