Aiming to address major national ecological construction needs, the Chinese Academy of Forestry (CAF) has formed a research team focused on wetland restoration. This team has strategically concentrated on key technical research areas, achieving numerous original innovations and significant breakthroughs in wetland restoration, enhancement of wetland purification functions, and wetland assessment. These achievements have been widely applied and promoted throughout the country.
Technical system of wetland restoration
The Wetland Restoration Team has undertaken theoretical research on the mechanisms of ecological degradation and restoration technologies, proposing a fundamental paradigm for wetland restoration. They developed technology for close-to-nature ecological restoration of wetlands and established a multi-mode technology for constructing a complete biological chain. These advancements have been instrumental in the nationwide implementation of wetland conservation projects. The National Forestry and Grassland Administration of China has recognized the achievements as “reaching the domestic leading level in general and reaching international leading level in technology integration.”, which have become the core technical support for the implementation of China’s “National Wetland Conservation Program (2004-2030).”
Technology of constructed wetlands
The Wetland Restoration Team has developed functional and modular wetland ecological unit construction technology which is capable of progressively intercepting, filtering, and degrading pollutants. They have overcome technical challenges such as pulse water distribution with controlled reaction/settling time ratio, multi-layered aeration through micro-perforated pipes, and optimization of hydrodynamic blockage prevention, significantly enhancing wetland purification functions have been overcome. Demonstration bases at the Beijing Rescue Center, Cuihu Wetland Park, and Jiangsu Sanshan Island have been in operation for over a decade. These artificial wetlands, with their small footprint and low maintenance, have no dead zones and do not clog, operating continuously and stably. This technology has been directly applied to projects of treating polluted and degraded wetlands in Beijing, Jilin and other places.
The Wetland Restoration Team has also developed technology for the restoration and enhancement of coastal and shoal wetlands, supporting the protection and restoration of these areas. They have created a series of technologies for the functional restoration and enhancement of coastal and shoal wetlands, including habitat construction for shorebirds, water purification, enhancement of carbon sink capacity, ecological unit construction and restoration, and habitat regulation and restoration. The unitized waterbird habitat restoration technology was selected as one of the key technologies to be promoted by the National Forestry and Grassland Administration in 2021 and has been implemented in Shanghai Chongming Dongtan, Yancheng in Jiangsu, Hangzhou Bay in Zhejiang, Haifeng in Guangdong, and other locations.
Technical systems of assessment on wetland ecosystem services
The Wetland Restoration Team pioneered the monetary evaluation and emergy assessment of wetlands in China. They developed a systematic assessment procedure and methods that enhance the accuracy of assessments through the non-repetitive calculation of wetland ecosystem values has been produced. This breakthrough addressed the technical bottleneck of scale conversion in assessing the service value of wetlands, enabling precise calculations of ecosystem service value on a large scale and across regions. They completed the first national ecosystem service value assessment for lakes, marshes and coastal wetlands, providing technical support for ecological asset accounting in China and facilitating scientific decision-making in wetland conservation and utilization for the authorities.
