Yiwu, China
City population: 2947340
Duration: 2019 – ongoing
Implementation status: Ongoing
Scale: Meso-scale: Regional, metropolitan and urban level
Project area: 8400000 m2
Type of area: Public Greenspace Area, Central Business District / City Centre
Last updated: June 2024

The municipal government of the Yiwu city in China has launched the Green Lungs of the City Project (GLCP) in 2019. The overarching goal was to build a green lung, which will create more green spaces for residents in Yiwu, mitigate environmental pressures and improve the city's resilience to climate change. Under the project, a green corridor was created to reconnect the roads, rivers, ponds and lakes where different tree species were planted. Additionally, wetlands were constructed and restored to improve resilience against climate change disasters. The project is still in the ongoing phase, and a forest-wetland ecological park is under development in the city's central area. The GLCP aims to use different types of NBS elements to promote sustainable urban development and to provide multiple ecosystem services to the citizens in a highly urbanised area. [1]

Yiwu Green Lung of the City
Yiwu Green Lung of the City
https://news.zgyww.cn/system/2019/12/06/010176489.shtml

Overview

Nature-based solution

  • Blue infrastructure
  • Lakes/ponds
  • In-land wetlands, peatlands, swamps, and moors
  • Community gardens and allotments
  • Allotments
  • Green areas for water management
  • Swales and filter strips
  • Parks and urban forests
  • Large urban parks or forests
  • Botanical gardens

Key challenges

  • Climate action for adaptation, resilience and mitigation (SDG 13)
  • Climate change adaptation
  • Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
  • Habitat and biodiversity conservation
  • Green space creation and/or management
  • Water management (SDG 6)
  • Flood protection
  • Stormwater and rainfall management and storage
  • Improvements to water quality
  • Health and well-being (SDG 3)
  • Creation of opportunities for recreation

Focus

Creation of new green areas, Maintenance and management of urban nature

Project objectives

1. To create more green spaces in the city to reduce the environmental pressure and increase city resilience in fighting climate change. 2. To promote sustainable urban development by ecosystem services provided by Blue-Green-Infrastructure. 3. To improve the green and blue landscape connectivity for biodiversity conservation and water purification. 4. To provide health and wellbeing benefits gained through the Blue-Green-Infrastructure. 5. Creation and restoration of wetlands to improve resilience against climate change disasters. 6. Reconnect roads, rivers, ponds and lakes [1, 2].

Implementation activities

Trees, including native species, were planted in the areas where no to very few trees existed. In some areas, trees were planted to create urban forests (dense plantations with selective species). Existed wetlands or ponds were restored. A few new wetlands were constructed. These were done in a way that the BGI elements create a green corridor and habitats for different species. Conservation and protection plans were made for existed and newly planted trees. Water plants near the wetlands were of special attention as they help water purification. Empty and not in use grey infrastructures were demolished and reforested. Furthermore, pathways for bicycling were also built for citizens to promote green transport. The project is ongoing and more tree plantations and wetland conservation are under development. [1, 2, 3]

Climate-focused activities

Climate change adaptation:

  • Increase or improve urban vegetation cover to help reduce outdoor temperature
  • Create or improve outdoor spaces to help people escape from urban heat
  • Restore wetlands and/or coastal ecosystems to dissipate the effects of flooding and/or storms

Biodiversity conservation or restoration-focused activities

Biodiversity conservation:

  • Protect and enhance urban habitats
  • Create new habitats
  • Preserve and strengthen habitat connectivity
  • Protect species
  • Undertake specific measures to protect species
  • Undertake specific measures to protect native species
  • Means for conservation governance
  • Biodiversity offsets
  • Raise public awareness
  • Public engagement
  • Create and use scientific knowledge for conservation

Main beneficiaries

  • Local government/Municipality
  • Non-government organisation/Civil Society
  • Citizens or community groups
  • Food producers and cultivators (i.e. farmers, gardeners)

Governance

Management set-up

  • Co-governance with government and non-government actors

Type of initiating organisation

  • Regional government
  • Local government/municipality
  • Public sector institution
  • Non-government organisation/civil society
  • Citizens or community group
  • Researchers/university
  • Private foundation/trust
  • Social enterprise

Participatory approaches/ community involvement

  • Dissemination of information and education
  • Consultation (e.g. workshop, surveys, community meetings, town halls)
  • Co-management/Joint management

Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project

The GLCP was led by the Metropolitan City of Yiwu and Yiwu Natural Resources and Planning Bureau and was planned and implemented at the municipal (with the master plan of Yiwu City) and sub-district levels by means of public-private participation (PPP). A variety of stakeholders participated in its realisation; these include governing and park planning authorities; Yiwu Bureau of Culture and Tourism; Beijing Beilin Landscape Architecture institute co. Ltd.; Yiwu City Investment and Construction Group Co., Ltd.; researchers, urban planners, ecologists, park wardens and associated members; municipalities of the sub-districts (Futian, Houzhai). [1, 2]

Project implemented in response to ...

... an EU policy or strategy? No
... a national policy or strategy? Yes (Urban and Rural Planning Law of the People’s Republic of China, Forestry Law of the People's Republic of China [2])
... a local policy or strategy? Yes (Master Plan of Yiwu City (2013-2030) [2])

Financing

Total cost

More than €4,000,000

Source(s) of funding

  • Public local authority budget
  • Public regional budget
  • Corporate investment
  • Private Foundation/Trust

Type of funding

  • Direct funding (grants, subsidies, or self-financed projects by private entities)
  • Donations

Non-financial contribution

Unknown

Impacts and Monitoring

Environmental impacts

  • Environmental quality
  • Improved air quality
  • Water management and blue areas
  • Improved water quality
  • Improved stormwater management
  • Green space and habitat
  • Promotion of naturalistic styles of landscape design for urban development
  • Increased green space area
  • Increased conservation or restoration of ecosystems
  • Increased ecological connectivity across regeneration sites and scales
  • Reduced biodiversity loss

Economic impacts

  • Increase of green jobs (e.g. paid employment positions)
  • Reduce financial cost for urban management
  • Increase in agricultural production (for profit or not)

Socio-cultural impacts

  • Social justice and cohesion
  • Increased opportunities for social interaction
  • Health and wellbeing
  • Gain in activities for recreation and exercise
  • Cultural heritage and sense of place
  • Improvement in people’s connection to nature
  • Education
  • Increased awareness of NBS and their benefits

Type of reported impacts

Expected impacts, Achieved impacts

Presence of formal monitoring system

Unknown

Presence of indicators used in reporting

No evidence in public records

Presence of monitoring/ evaluation reports

No evidence in public records

Availability of a web-based monitoring tool

No evidence in public records

References

1. Clearing House Project Case Studies (n.d.). Blog, Nature-Based Solutions Urban Forests. URL: Source link. Accessed on 25th March, 2022.
2. NetworkNature (n.d.). Green Lungs of The City - Forest and Wetlands Park, Yiwu - Zhejiang Province, China. URL: Source link. Accessed on 25th March, 2022.
3. City of Yiwu. (2022). Yiwu City Made Concerted Efforts to Strive for National Forest City. URL: Source link. Accessed on 4th April, 2022.
4. Yiwu Natural Resources and Planning Bureau. URL: Source link. Accessed on 4th April, 2022.
5. City of Yiwu (2022). Summary of Yiwu's Work in Ten Aspects. URL: Source link. Accessed on 4th April, 2022.
Information about this nature-based solution was collected as part of the UNA global extension project funded by the British Academy.