Last updated: October 2021
The Ecological Wetland Park is a 630,000 m2 artificial wetland located in a high tech industrial pioneer zone, adjacent to the Tianjin Harbor. The project was initiated by an agency of the local government and constructed with financial support from the Asian Development Bank (1). The area of the park used to be "a natural coastal salt marsh, which become reclaimed land in the early 2000s. The resulting saline-alkaline area had minimal ecosystem value and use value (as it was not considered to be suitable for agricultural activities either)" (1 p20). The wetland park's objective is threefold: 1) to provide a natural wastewater treatment plant for the industrial area to decrease pollutant discharge into the Bohai Bay and improve water quality; 2) to rehabilitating and restoring the once thriving biodiversity in the Harbor Area and the Hai river's estuary 3) to create a place for recreation and leisure for residents. (1)
Overview
Nature-based solution
- Blue infrastructure
- Coastal wetland, mangroves and salt marshes
- Green areas for water management
- Sustainable urban drainage systems
Key challenges
- Water management (SDG 6)
- Stormwater and rainfall management and storage
- Improvements to water quality
- Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
- Habitat and biodiversity restoration
- Green space creation and/or management
- Environmental quality
- Waste management
- Regeneration, land-use and urban development
- Conversion of former industrial areas
- Promote natural styles of landscape design for urban development
- Health and well-being (SDG 3)
- Creation of opportunities for recreation
- Economic development and employment (SDG 8)
- Economic development: industry
- Employment/job creation
Focus
Creation of new green areas, Creation of semi-natural blue areas, Ecological restoration of ecosystems, Transformation of previously derelict areas
Project objectives
1) Creation of a wetland for the wastewater treatment of the industrial park, thus reducing the pollutant discharge into the Bohai Bay
2) Restoration of the habitat of local birds and increasing the local biodiversity
3) Creation of public green space sufficient for leisure and recreation, thus increasing the livability of the district to attract a skilled workforce to the industrial zone (1)
Implementation activities
- Construction of 630,000 m2 artificial wetland on a barren, reclaimed, industrial land
- Construction of 170,000 m2 water surface for root zone treatment with 56,000 subsurface wetland for sewage treatment
- Plantation of 29,000 trees, 15,000 shrubs from over 130 species (1)
Biodiversity conservation or restoration-focused activities
Biodiversity restoration:
- Rehabilitate and restore damaged or destroyed ecosystems
Main beneficiaries
- Local government/Municipality
- Public sector institution (e.g. school or hospital)
- Private sector/Corporate/Company
- Citizens or community groups
Governance
Management set-up
- Led by non-government actors
Type of initiating organisation
- Public sector institution
Participatory approaches/ community involvement
- Other
Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project
The Ecological Wetland Park was initiated and constructed by the state-owned Tianjin Harbor Construction and Development Committee while several other actors from the governmental and private sector contributed to the implementation of the Wetland project. "The publicly owned Tianjin Harbor Construction and Development Company was responsible to coordinate the visioning, planning, and implementation process and its subsidiary company (Tianjin Harbor Landscape Company) is responsible for the maintenance of the area" (1 p22). The wastewater management process of the Ecological Wetland Park is maintained, monitored and evaluated by the Tianjin Environmental Protection Institute (1)
Further actors are the China-Europe Advanced Manufacturing Industrial Park, The Asian Development Bank, the Ministry of Finance of PRC, Tianjin Port Free Trade Zone Harbor Region AC, Public utility companies, Universities. (1)
Project implemented in response to ...
... an EU policy or strategy?
No
... a national policy or strategy?
No
... a local policy or strategy?
No
Financing
Total cost
More than €4,000,000
Source(s) of funding
- Public national budget
- Public local authority budget
- Multilateral funds/international funding
Type of funding
- Direct funding (grants, subsidies, or self-financed projects by private entities)
- Loan
- Green bonds
Non-financial contribution
No
Impacts and Monitoring
Environmental impacts
- Environmental quality
- Improved waste management
- Water management and blue areas
- Improved water quality
- Enhanced protection and restoration of freshwater ecosystems
- Green space and habitat
- Promotion of naturalistic styles of landscape design for urban development
- Increased number of protection areas
- Increased green space area
- Increased conservation or restoration of ecosystems
- Increase in protected green space areas
- Increased conversion of degraded land or soil
- Increased number of species present
- Restoration of derelict areas
Economic impacts
- Unknown
Socio-cultural impacts
- Health and wellbeing
- Gain in activities for recreation and exercise
- Education
- Increased support for education and scientific research
Type of reported impacts
Achieved impacts
Presence of formal monitoring system
Yes
Presence of indicators used in reporting
Yes
Presence of monitoring/ evaluation reports
No evidence in public records
Availability of a web-based monitoring tool
No evidence in public records
References
1) 1) Katona, A. 2018. NATURVATION - Working Paper: Tianjin, China.