Coastal and marine environmental issues in the Pearl River Delta region, China

Abstract

The Pearl River Delta (PRD) region has become the most prosperous region in China. Unfortunately, this rapidly growing economy has incurred high environmental cost. Our paper explores land‐based pollution input increases, eutrophication, mangrove deforestation, oceanic fisheries depletion, marine biodiversity loss and more frequent occurrences of red tides. Long periods of monitoring data on benthic organisms have confirmed environmental deterioration in Shenzhen Bay. A system of government perceived to be inappropriate, the inefficient functioning of marine institutions and the public’s low awareness of environmental sensitivity are together responsible for the current environmental degradation. This paper proposes reconciling the goals of economic development and environmental protection to evaluate the government’s performance, setting up a comprehensive agency in the PRD, increasing investment in ecological improvement, and making a more concerted effort to stimulate public awareness on environmental deterioration.

Keywords:

• The Pearl River Delta (PRD) region
• Environmental degradation
• Coastline

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Chinese National Key Fund (project number 30930017) and the Chinese Guangdong Neilingding Futian National Nature Reserve. We would like to thank the referees for their constructive comments on this paper and Professor John Hodgkiss and the Editor Dr Michael Brett‐Crowther for their assistance with the English.