The Yangtze River basin covers 19 provinces in China and provides the main source of water for almost 600 million people.
WD News: The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved a US$200 million loan to enhance ecological protection and reduce water pollution along China’s Yangtze River basin in Hubei province. This financing will strengthen ecosystem management, reduce water pollution from plastics and animal manure, and improve wastewater treatment.
Due to increased human and industrial activity, the basin acts as a conveyer of plastic and other pollutants to the world’s oceans. It is also home to a third of China’s endangered species and 40 percent of its rare or endangered plants.
“By supporting cross-sectoral coordination, cooperation across provincial jurisdictions in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and innovation in the management of water resources, this program will help China achieve real impacts in pollution reduction in the Yangtze basin at scale,” said Mara Warwick, Country Director for China, Mongolia and Korea at World Bank.
The program focuses on improving coordination, data collection and sharing, and water management planning and allocation across the river basin.
Source: World Bank
Image courtesy: Pixabay
