Yangzhou, a Generation Restoration role model city, restored over 15 square kilometers of wetlands, revitalizing key ecosystems along the Grand Canal. It has applied “sponge city” principles to reduce flood risk and improve water quality, and has transformed degraded industrial and riverine areas to support biodiversity, recreation, and sustainable tourism.

About the city

Yangzhou is home to a population of approximately 4.6 million people. Located in the Jiangsu Province, Yangzhou is 300 kilometers from Shanghai on the north shore of the Yangtze River. Yangzhou has a humid, subtropical climate with distinct seasons, including hot, humid summers and cold winters. At the center of China's "Yangtze River Delta" economic circle, Yangzhou is an important regional economic center. Historically, it acted as a key location within the Grand Canal, a UNESCO World Heritage site linking major Chinese rivers.

Local challenges

Yangzhou, like many cities throughout the world, is facing increases in extreme temperatures and heatwaves, exacerbated by the urban heat island effect. Its location in the Yangtze River Basin makes it susceptible to flooding from heavy rainfall and rising water levels, while conversely droughts threaten water availability. At the same time, urban expansion threatens ecosystems, and the city’s high solid waste footprint puts further pressure on its ecosystems and biodiversity. Furthermore, Yangzhou faces water pollution issues from urban runoff, industrial discharge, and agriculture, which further impacts aquatic biodiversity.

How the city leads in restoration

Yangzhou leads in restoration through a variety of projects that center nature-based solutions (NbS), in an approach combining contemporary and traditional methods of environmental stewardship. Yangzhou has actively promoted implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) over the past decades, and many of Yangzhou’s projects focus on improvements to the canal and riverine systems, efforts to curtail plastic waste pollution, and restore degraded areas.

Much of Yangzhou’s restoration work is guided by the broader Jianghuai Ecological Corridor project, a large, regional-scale ecological corridor spanning multiple cities in the Jianghuai region and covering major river systems, wetlands, greenbelts, and ecological nodes. In Yangzhou, the Jianghuai Ecological Corridor provides an ecological barrier protecting the water quality and surrounding environment of the city’s Grand Canal. It features greenbelt parks and corridors, enhancing green spaces. The project integrates wetland restoration, water-quality improvement, and ecological landscape rehabilitation along the canal system.

Aligned with Yangzhou’s restoration priorities, from 2016 to 2020, Yangzhou successfully restored 15.33 square kilometers of wetlands, and the natural wetland protection rate reached over 60%. Yangzhou has since continued investing financial resources to facilitate ecosystem restoration and waste management within wetlands. Restoration techniques include rehabilitation of natural shorelines, curtailing fishing, native plant cultivation, and removing and recycling waste, in a collaborative project involving government departments, industries, research institutes, and civil society.

Yangzhou’s “Seven Rivers and Eight Islands” eco-zone is a wetland landscape in Yangzhou that has been designated as an ecological economic zone. The project involved relocating polluting and high-impact industries from the area, restoring shorelines and waterfront areas, and developing eco-tourism projects.

Integral to Yangzhou’s approach to NbS is the “sponge city” model, which focuses on imitating large-scale natural processes to absorb floodwater like a sponge, rather than using artificial materials to repel and carry away water. This involves the use of environmentally friendly materials to stabilize riverbanks, and regular dredging to control pollution and protect biodiversity. Yangzhou demonstrated this sponge city concept in restoring the Old Canal, which incorporates nature-based solutions and traditional landscaping techniques, such as through the use of permeable pavements and the construction of 15 rain gardens. This intervention has reduced pollution in the canal while allowing the permeation of significant rainfall. It also serves as an important destination for tourism and recreation. 

Yangzhou has also made significant strides in reducing plastic pollution. As a member of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) "Plastic Smart Cities" since 2020, Yangzhou is aiming to reduce plastic pollution by 30%, to preserve the Yangtze River and provide leadership in holistic waste management. Through this initiative, Yangzhou is building a waste management system that incorporates extensive recycling, with a focus on proper waste disposal and recycling fishing nets and gear within waterbodies in the Jianghuai Ecological Corridor.

Furthermore, over the course of ten years, Yangzhou transformed a former industrial zone into the Sanwan Wetland Park. The Sanwan Wetland Park is a 1,013,000-square-meter ecological park that addresses waste issues within Yangzhou, while also integrating green spaces, nature, and agriculture within the urban environment and creating protected ecological areas. In addition, Yangzhou completed the Maoshan landfill restoration project in 2015, transforming a landfill site into a sport park and pet market, which significantly increase the land and ecological value of the surrounding communities. In 2026, the city will start another landfill restoration project in the Zhaozhuang Landfill, by turning the area into an eco-park for natural and environmental education, as well as a solar power station.

Yangzhou has also been the host of various international events, such as the “World Canal City Forum”, which focused on the role of canals for ecological and economic benefits, canal conservation, and mutual exchange and knowledge sharing among attendees from around the world. Finally, Yangzhou highlighted its strategy to benefit citizens’ wellbeing through ecological development and restoration, in its 15th Five-Year Plan.