Hunan South Dongting Lake Wetland Ecological Restoration and Sustainable Development Project

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The Asian Development Bank (ADB) proposed a project loan PRC (56216-001): South Dongting Lake Wetland Ecological Restoration and Sustainable Development Project. Dongting Lake with its wetland ecosystems is the second-largest freshwater lake in the People's Republic of China (PRC) (2,652 km2). Situated entirely within Hunan Province in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River basin, Dongting Lake is among the 200 global ecoregions and it is one of the highest priority wetlands identified in the PRC through ADB's flagship Regional Flyway Initiative (RFI). The lakes wetlands are divided into three administrative areas (municipalities) containing four nature reserves. Located in the southwest part of Dongting Lake downstream of the Three Gorges Dam, South Dongting Lake (SDL) was established as a nature reserve in 1991. In 2002, it was accredited as a Ramsar site (with an area of 168,000 hectares) and it became a provincial nature reserve in 2018. About 90% of SDL is located in Yuanjiang city, accounting for 40% of its municipal land area.