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2012-07-05 00:00
Yellow River Declaration
--- On Keeping Healthy Life of the Rivers
Water
is the source of all sorts of life. River is the mother and the natural
parent of human civilization and thriving life species.
Nowadays,
the development of economic society has entered into a new era while
river and water resources face unprecedented crises and challenges.
We are duty bound to take action to keep healthy life of our mother river with sanity, resolution, and confidence.
On
October 17-21, 2005, experts and scholars from over 60 countries and
regions and representatives from many international organizations meet
together in Zhengzhou, China, to attend the 2nd International Yellow
River Forum. Confronted with the unprecedented crises of the rivers, we
carried out deep discussions and explorations on such issues as the
river health, the significance of keeping healthy life of the river, and
the means and aims to restore river ecosystem. We had a more profound
understanding on the harmonious coexistence of human beings and rivers,
and reached a common understanding on many important issues. Based on
this, the Yellow River Declaration on Keeping Healthy Life of the Rivers
is announced as the following:
River is the most ancient, most
lively, and most creative life essence on the earth. Since remote
antiquity, the river has been crossing over the highlands, breaking
gorges, building plains, which not only formed rich and varied terrain,
physiognomy and life species, but also nurtured, nourished and
multiplied human beings and human civilization.
The river is a
living body. In the running and cycling life system, water could
exchange, transfer and renew through vaporization, rainfall,
transportation, infiltration and surface flow, etc. In such way water
brings more configuration, more diversities and magnificent and
incomparable landscape. There is the deriving and overgrowing of human
life because of the colorful life of the rivers.
Human beings and river depend on each other as lips and teeth and are bound together for good and ill.
However,
due to the great impacts of human activities, many rivers in the world
are facing unprecedented crises now: river source degradation, river
tail vanishing, river bed silting up, river channel shrinking, river
course running dry, as well as water pollution, which lead to the
conflicts and even collapse of the ecosystem relying on the river. The
continuing of civilization of all nations is suffering from ponderous
suspiciousness and great challenging.
Facing all kinds of
challenges, people can’t help worrying deeply. Do modern human beings
not only share the legacy of ancestors but also overdraft the wealth of
offspring?
Keeping healthy life of the river is a waking up and
regression of human beings in the nature, and it’s also the need for
sustainable development of the society.
Based on this understanding,
We are duty bound:
to carry out the idea of harmonious society, to promote the process of
human beings getting along well with the nature, to maintain the dignity
and right that river should have to make river preserve its
integrality, variety and pureness and run healthily on the earth.
We are duty bound:
to mobilize the strength of all walks of life of the society, to study
healthy life theory of river, to explore the harmonious relationship of
human beings and water, to set up new ethic concept between human beings
and river, to make people cherish river life as cherishing their own
lives and preserve river health in self-knowledge through publicizing
and legislation.
We are duty bound: as speaker
of the rivers, to envisage the harm done to river, to lead the overall
situation with the view of scientific development, to systematically
make up the integral development plan of basin economy and society, to
cut down the index of overtopping the carrying ability of water
resources, to promote mightily the adjusting of industrial structure and
quicken the steps of setting up water-saving society.
We are duty bound:
to supply sufficient space for river, and to improve the self-adjusting
and self-renovating ability of river to reach the aim of harmonizing
with natural ecosystem.
We are duty bound: to
set up new river management strategy, to strengthen the conservation and
leading to the river, to restore gradually the healthy visage of river
with science as forerunner in exploring and practice to the target of
making human beings, river and ecosystem harmonizing with each other.
We are duty bound:
to cherish more the contribution of rivers to human civilization, to
carry forward the creativity of rivers to human civilization, to remold
the mutual identity of the residents in the basin, to strengthen the
public participation and to promote the sustainable development of
social civilization.
Should we respect river, treat river well, and protect our river.
Let
us take active action hand in hand with the government, organization,
enterprise, and each and everyone who has the aspiration to keep healthy
life of the river and promote our ideality together.
Wish the river running and living forever!