Xiamen continues to carry out beach protection and restoration to increase more pro-sea space.
Strolling along the beach and overlooking the sea is a pleasant leisure way for Xiamen people. The "Gold Coast" of more than 20 kilometers makes coastal tourism a "golden signboard" in Xiamen. The blue sea and silver beach is not only a gift from nature, but also from the local protection and restoration for many years.
"The beach is a valuable natural resource and plays an important role in ecological services, tourism and leisure, disaster prevention and mitigation." Cai Feng, director of the Third Institute of Oceanography of the Ministry of Natural Resources, has been deeply involved in beach protection and restoration for nearly 30 years, leading the team to think of many ways and do a lot of work for the beaches in Xiamen.
According to reports, in the 1980s, due to natural and human factors, the beaches in Xiamen were damaged to varying degrees, and the beaches were eroded and the environment was messy. The common method of early coastal protection is to build hard revetment with riprap and reinforced concrete. Xiamen, on the other hand, follows the principle of "beach is suitable" to restore beaches, enhance coastal protection capacity and carry out systematic protection and restoration of beaches.
"In order to achieve’ retention, no mud, no sand’, we have carried out research and development on beach restoration technology, integrated and formed a technical system, and formulated four industry standards." Cai Feng said that the development of beach protection and restoration has effectively maintained the health of the beach ecosystem and provided a strong guarantee for the sustainable use of beaches and the improvement of the use function of coastal waters.
Since 2007, Xiamen has successively completed the protection and restoration of many beaches such as Guanyin Mountain, Convention and Exhibition Center and Gulangyu Island, with a cumulative restoration area of 1.65 million square meters. Ke Yuzong, director of Xiamen Natural Resources and Planning Bureau, introduced that the beach protection and restoration is based on Xiamen’s natural characteristics, combined with the sea area use planning, and comprehensively considered the feasibility from the perspective of land and sea planning, which restored the natural form, landform and vegetation units of the coastline to the greatest extent, improved the ability of disaster prevention and mitigation, and restored and improved the ecological function.
Guanyinshan Beach, with an area of 400,000 square meters, is the first landmark beach protection and restoration project in Xiamen. With soft and delicate sand and beautiful coastline, it is a popular tourist destination for tourists. In the process of protection and restoration, Xiamen insists on leaving the most beautiful coastline to the people. The total beach area of the city is 2.4 million square meters, which adds more sea-friendly space for citizens and tourists. Xiamen organically combines sports, culture, tourism and leisure facilities, and organizes beach football matches, beach culture festivals and other activities. The once dirty beach has become a scenic beach and an activity area for cultural and sports events.
In recent years, Xiamen has continuously strengthened cooperation with scientific research institutes in beach protection and restoration, increased investment in scientific research and development, and carried out basic and applied scientific research on beach conservation. Together with the Third Institute of Oceanography of the Ministry of Natural Resources and other units, a number of industry standards have been compiled and approved by the Ministry of Natural Resources, which has become an important support for scientific and standardized beach maintenance and restoration projects. Related technologies have been gradually extended to Guangdong, Hainan and other provinces, and have also been applied to coastal protection projects in countries such as Thailand and Sri Lanka where the Belt and Road Initiative is jointly built.
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