Why 2,000‑year‑old Dujiangyan is still an ecological‑governance benchmark

"We have long embraced the philosophy of 'harmony between humanity and nature'," said Luo Ming, a research fellow at the Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Center, Ministry of Natural Resources of China.

For Luo, this is far more than an abstract idea. She cited the Dujiangyan Irrigation System, constructed over 2,000 years ago and still in operation today. The landmark works use the fish‑mouth weir to divide the Minjiang River, the Feishayan spillway to discharge sediment, and the Baopingkou water‑intake channel to deliver irrigation water across the Chengdu Plain.

"To be clear, we cannot label Dujiangyan outright as a modern‑day NbS initiative, since Nature‑based Solutions is a contemporary concept. Even so, its core logic — working with natural processes to serve human needs — aligns perfectly with the spirit of NbS." As Luo put it, China has long carried this "NbS gene". (Lin Zhuowei)