Building the Partnership between Government Departments and Enterprise on Protecting the Marine Environment of Yalujiang River Estuary

 Liaoning Ocean and Fishery Department, China

For strengthening the ability of the stakeholders to effectively manage marine ecosystem and coastal resources, Liaoning Ocean and Fishery Department will organize a series of social activities in the Yalujiang River estuary area. The theme is “Building the partnership between government department and enterprises on protecting the marine environment of Yalujiang River Estuary”. The activities plan include: surveys, encourage and support public participation, communication between local government departments and enterprises, training of marine conservation for local enterprises, ensuring continuity of marine protection mechanism and calling for effective marine conservation mechanisms.

Specifically the project will:

1. Conduct surveys on the Yalujiang River Estuary ecosystem to prepare basic information for implementing activities.  The surveys will reveal not only the current status and problems of the ecosystem, but also the pollution source (e.g., polluting enterprises).  Major business enterprises will be identified, which contribute to the environmental degradation in the Yalujiang River Estuary.  The subsequent proposed activities will target those identified enterprises to involve them as partners in estuary conservation activities.

2.      Organise a meeting with the representatives from the Liaoning Ocean and Fishery Department, the Liaoning Ocean and Fisheries Science Research Institute, the Dandong Marine and Fishery Bureau, the Donggang Marine and Fishery Bureau, and the local business enterprises such as the Dandong Port, the Dandong Branch Company of Huaneng Power International Inc., and the Donggang Shellfish Culture Company.  The meeting will mainly discuss (a) how to encourage the enterprises as a partner of the government to participate in estuary ecosystem management and (b) how to solve the conflicts between coastal development and marine environmental protection.  The discussion will help in forming a basic strategy for establishing the partnership between the public sector and the private sector.

3.      Organise a training workshop to help the local business enterprises establish a co-operative relationship among different enterprises, develop their business plans in harmony with the environment, and solve conflicts with other relevant stakeholders such as local residents and fishermen.  The workshop participants (e.g., the Dandong port, the Dandong Branch Company of Huaneng Power International Inc., and the Donggang Shellfish Culture Company) will explore the possibility and way to collaborate in managing the estuary ecosystem in a sustainable manner.  Specifically, the participating enterprises will try to develop a common action plan on how to invest their resources in environmental protection and how to raise the public awareness of the Yalujiang River Estuary ecosystem.

4.      Establish a regular consultation meeting with various stakeholders to secure continuous efforts for marine environmental protection in the Yalujiang River Estuary.  The regular meeting will be organised every six months.  The objective of the meeting is to solve environmental problems collectively by sharing information and providing technical suggestions each other.  The meeting will facilitate harmonising management actions that stakeholders currently implement and/or plan to implement individually.  The meeting participants include local government agencies (i.e, the Liaoning Ocean and Fishery Department, the Liaoning Ocean and Fisheries Science Research Institute, the Dandong Marine and Fishery Bureau, and the Donggang Marine and Fishery Bureau), local business entities (e.g., the Dandong port, the Dandong Branch Company of Huaneng Power International Inc., and the Donggang Shellfish Culture Company), local universities (e.g., Dalian Maritime University), and NGOs (e.g., Grass Association).

5.      Organise a visit to the Dandong Branch Company of Huaneng Power International Inc. with participants from the Dandong port, the Donggang Shellfish Culture Company, and local residents.  The participants will learn the advanced technologies and successful experiences from the Dandong Branch Company of Huaneng Power International Inc. in the fields of energy-saving and environmental protection.