Not long ago, the 71st Executive Council of the international irrigation and drainage Commission announced that tianbaopi in Fujian, Luogu irrigation area of longshouqu in Shaanxi, 36yan in Baishaxi in Zhejiang and sangyuanwei in Guangdong declared by China have been selected into the world irrigation project heritage list in 2020. So far, China has 23 world irrigation engineering heritages, and has become the country with the richest types of heritage projects, the widest distribution and the most prominent irrigation benefits.

China's irrigation project reflects the harmonious coexistence of human and nature

Founded in 1950, the international irrigation and drainage Commission is a professional international organization for scientific and technological exchange and application promotion in irrigation, drainage, flood control and other fields. Its members include 80 national and regional committees, covering more than 95% of the global irrigation area.

In 2014, the international irrigation and drainage Commission set up the world irrigation project heritage list to provide historical experience and Enlightenment for sustainable irrigation development. At present, there are 105 irrigation engineering heritages in the world, covering 16 countries on five continents. In the past, China's irrigation projects included Dujiangyan in Sichuan, Lingqu in Xing'an in Guangxi, Ziquejie Terrace in Xinhua in Hunan and Hetao Irrigation Area in Inner Mongolia.

Ashwin pandia, Secretary General of the international irrigation and drainage Commission, said that being included in the world irrigation project heritage must be a milestone in the development of irrigation agriculture. Its engineering design, construction technology, project scale, water diversion amount and irrigation area are ahead of the times of the project, and it has made outstanding contributions in promoting local agricultural development, increasing grain production, increasing farmers' income and reducing poverty. "As China's irrigation engineering shows, the world irrigation engineering heritage project is often synonymous with innovation or miracle in its construction years, which provides extensive help and profound enlightenment for contemporary irrigation engineering theory and development."

All the successful irrigation projects in China have the above characteristics. For example, tianbaopi, nearly 1300 years ago, is the earliest existing saline water storage project in China; the well canal method was first created in the Luogu irrigation area of Longshou canal, which promoted the development of the theory and means of tunnel construction and water conservancy engineering; the 36 weir of Baisha River spans 45 kilometers from the upstream to the downstream, with a water level drop of 168 meters, leading the times in project planning and construction scale.

In pandia's view, ancient Chinese irrigation projects reflect the concept of harmonious coexistence between man and nature, which has great contribution and inspiration value to the development of today's irrigation agriculture. Some heritage still plays a huge economic and social benefits. The construction of tianbaopi used pebbles, stones and other materials, local materials, and paid attention to ecological and environmental protection; the irrigation from Longshou canal to Luoyang focused on the use of silting and reducing brine to control saline alkali land, and improved the regional ecology; sangyuanwei adopted Sangji fishpond circular agriculture mode, which promoted mulberry breeding, sericulture, shipping trade, dragon boat race and other activities, which was of great significance to the development of contemporary agriculture and the construction of ecological civilization It has important implications.

"Green water and green mountains are gold and silver. Good ecological environment is the fairest public product and the most inclusive well-being of people's livelihood. This is also the embodiment of China's traditional wisdom and development concept. " Pandia said that the practice and experience of China's ecological civilization construction is worthy of reference by the international community.

The experience of water control in China provides reference for solving the bottleneck problem of water conservancy

Located on the South Bank of Qiantang River in Hangzhou, the China Water Conservancy Museum is designed as a crystal pagoda floating on the water. Pandia and Harish Kumar wama, executive director of the international irrigation and drainage Commission, have visited. In their view, the construction of such a professional and high-standard Water Conservancy Museum shows that China attaches great importance to carrying forward the spirit of water conservancy, inheriting water conservancy culture, and promoting the sustainable development of water conservancy. "It enables people to deeply understand the relationship between water conservancy, the continuation of civilization, and ecological protection.".

In thousands of years of water control practice, the ancient Chinese built many water conservancy projects and facilities, leaving precious material and spiritual wealth. "At present, China's overall promotion of the construction of high standard farmland, the development of efficient water-saving irrigation and industrial poverty alleviation, and efforts to promote high-quality agricultural development are in line with the reality of China's agricultural irrigation and drainage and the current development trend of the world's irrigation and drainage." Vama said.

During the 13th Five Year Plan period, remarkable progress has been made in China's farmland water conservancy and high standard farmland construction, which has played an important role in effectively preventing floods and droughts and successfully achieving a good harvest of grain and agriculture. Pandia believes that China has made remarkable achievements in poverty alleviation, including the construction of high standard farmland, efficient water-saving irrigation, and the promotion of high-tech irrigation and drainage methods.

In Shangshui County, Henan Province, the 50000 Mu high standard farmland demonstration area uses technologies such as Internet of things control and intelligent irrigation, so that farmers can check the dry land and operate irrigation remotely only by looking at the data; in Huwei Township, Dongxiang District, Fuzhou City, Jiangxi Province, the high standard farmland construction has changed the low yield farmland that used to run fertilizer and water into high and stable yield farmland that keeps fertilizer and water; tashikorgan Taji, Xinjiang 68000 mu of high-efficiency water-saving artificial grassland has been built in Ke Autonomous County. Spraying type high-efficiency water-saving irrigation is adopted. The water consumption per mu is only 1 / 10 of that of flood irrigation

"China has used UAV, artificial intelligence, big data, 5g and other advanced technologies in irrigation and drainage operations, and optimized agricultural irrigation and drainage through high technology, so as to provide a useful reference for solving the water conservancy bottleneck problem in the process of global poverty reduction." Pandia said.

China is an important participant in global water governance

The international irrigation and drainage Commission believes that ensuring food security and food price stability is an important aspect of fighting the epidemic. Food production depends on water resources, which puts forward higher requirements for countries to make efficient use of existing water resources and improve the level of agricultural management.

China has increased support for grain production, actively implemented various subsidy policies, and increased farmers' enthusiasm for growing grain. According to the data released by China's National Bureau of statistics, China's total grain output in 2020 will be 1339 billion jin, an increase of 11.3 billion jin or 0.9% over the previous year, and the output will remain above 1.3 trillion Jin for six consecutive years.

Pandia believes that China has taken scientific and effective epidemic prevention and control measures, successfully controlled the epidemic in a relatively short period of time, solidly promoted the construction of farmland water conservancy and high standard farmland, and accelerated the improvement of water conservancy infrastructure system, "with remarkable results in promoting sustainable development.". In wama's view, China's water conservancy departments and others have taken effective measures to do a good job in spring sowing according to the water demand of crops, strengthen the allocation of irrigation water, and played a positive role in promoting grain harvest and stable agricultural development.

In terms of global water governance, China has also actively contributed sustainable development programs to the international community. In October 2020 one belt, one road and river ecological protection technology joint training project was held in Wuhan, attracting participants from six countries including Kenya, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Madagascar, Pakistan and Nigeria. Ancient Chinese literature search and training program was also launched. One belt, one road, China and other countries and regions, are actively training with young people in the region and regions to promote water resources cooperation.

World Water Council president Locke Fuxun has visited China many times and witnessed China's vivid practice of combining economic and social development with water conservancy construction. Fu Xun believes that China's experience has attracted wide attention from all parties, and China is an important participant in global governance, including water governance.

Source: People's daily