Under the warm autumn sun, Lugu Lake is clear and transparent, and visitors wander among the lake and mountains, laughing and singing with joy.
Lugu Lake is located at the junction of Ninglang Yi Autonomous County in Lijiang City, Yunnan Province and Yanyuan County in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province. It is known as the "Pearl of the Plateau" and has maintained a long-term stable surface water quality standard of Class I.
Over the years, Yunnan and Sichuan provinces have carried out various forms and levels of communication, exchange, and cooperation around jointly protecting the ecological environment of the Lugu Lake Basin. With the booming development of tourism in Lugu Lake, the "one lake, two governance" and "one lake, separate governance" have brought a series of problems, and collaborative legislation and joint governance and management are urgently needed.
Seeking common ground while reserving differences and building consensus. In January 2019, the governments of Yunnan and Sichuan provinces jointly issued the "1+3" plan for the joint protection and governance of Lugu Lake, establishing a cross provincial and cross departmental supervision and emergency coordination linkage mechanism, and establishing a high-level discussion and coordination platform for inter provincial lake chiefs. In March 2023, Yunnan and Sichuan provinces will launch collaborative legislation for the protection of Lugu Lake. In September 2023, Yunnan and Sichuan provinces successively reviewed and passed the "Regulations on the Protection of Lugu Lake in Yunnan Province" and the "Regulations on the Protection of Lugu Lake in Sichuan Province", which will be implemented simultaneously from December 1, 2023.
The relevant person in charge of the Legal Work Committee of the Standing Committee of the Yunnan Provincial People's Congress introduced that through collaborative legislation, the structure and core content of the Lugu Lake Protection Regulations in Yunnan and Sichuan provinces have remained consistent, unifying protection principles, measures, major prohibitive provisions, and legal responsibilities, laying a solid foundation for achieving "one lake co governance" and "one lake co governance".
Li Pinchu, Deputy Secretary of the Party Working Committee of Lijiang Lugu Lake Management Bureau, said that lake chiefs at all levels in Yunnan and Sichuan provinces have conducted joint lake inspections and research multiple times, and relevant departments have jointly carried out lake closures and fishing bans, river dredging, tourism law enforcement, water emergency drills, etc., promoting the continuous improvement of the ecological environment in the Lugu Lake Basin, improving infrastructure, and orderly development of the tourism industry.
Under the leadership of the Party committee and government, the nationwide participation in the action to protect the lake is in full swing.
Volunteer Yang Jiabin and Li Zhizhi come from Yunnan and Sichuan respectively, and they often patrol lakes together and exchange information. Promoting the regulations on the protection of Lugu Lake, inspecting sewage facilities, and persuading tourists to travel in a civilized manner... Yang Jiabin Maqier said that as the tourism industry becomes increasingly prosperous, the pressure of protection will also increase. The public should actively participate in governance and consciously protect Lugu Lake.
With the gradual maturity of projects such as pig trough boat tours, slow ecological corridors, and homestay experiences, the winter sunshine (poetry) music season of Lugu Lake, Lugu Lake mountain turning festival, and Lugu Lake women's hiking competition have become popular. Nowadays, tourists from all over the world come to Lugu Lake to pursue a leisurely life of "paradise on earth and vacation paradise", and local villagers have also achieved income growth and wealth through ecotourism.
Lugu Lake has fed our whole family, "said Daxici Li, a villager who rides boats to ferry passengers on Lugu Lake all year round." We must protect the 'Mother Lake' and let the green waters and mountains benefit future generations.
Yang Zhengwei, Director of the Mosuo Community and Lugu Lake Tourism Scenic Area Management Bureau in Liangshan Prefecture, stated that the next step will continue to focus on ecological protection, project construction, and scenic area management to promote conservation work, making Lugu Lake more beautiful, livable, and suitable for tourism.