China has launched an action plan for 2025-2027 focused on the protection of rivers and lakes, with the primary goal of enhancing the quality of aquatic ecosystems. Unveiled on May 21, 2025, by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and other governmental bodies, the plan aims to achieve significant progress in creating beautiful rivers and lakes by 2030, with full completion by 2035.
The plan outlines 19 specific measures to consolidate and deepen water environment management, ensure basic ecological water use, and comprehensively advance protection and construction efforts. By 2027, the index of aquatic biological integrity in the Yangtze River Basin is expected to improve, and the decline in aquatic biodiversity in the Yellow River Basin will be initially curbed.
This initiative promotes targeted, science-based, and lawful pollution control, coordinating the management of water resources, aquatic environments, and water ecology. It also seeks to build an integrated ecological governance system across upstream and downstream areas in key river basins to improve the overall health of aquatic ecosystems throughout China.