While the 700,000 migratory birds that descend upon east China's Poyang Lake every winter are a sight for bird watchers, local farmers are not as enthusiastic about the feathered visitors.
Tao Wenge was granted 1,200 yuan (183 U.S. dollars) last month for his 20 mu (1.33 hectares) of rice crops destroyed by migratory birds.
"It was not much, but it's comforting," said Tao, from Changbei Village in Xinjian District in Jiangxi Province.
Tao was among 10,000 farmers living near Poyang Lake to be compensated.
"It is the first time farmers at the lake have been compensated," said Zhou Chengdong, director of the wetland protection office with the provincial forestry department, adding that the money was distributed last month to make up for crop losses in 2014.
The project is a trial operation for the country's ecological compensation efforts.
In 2014, three regions in Jiangxi, including Xinjian District of the provincial capital of Nanchang and the counties of Yongxiu and Xingzi in the city of Jiujiang, were listed as national pilot zones for ecological compensation after approval by the State Forestry Administration.
The central government allocated 50 million yuan in wetland ecological compensation for the three regions. The funds were earmarked to make up for crop losses caused by wildlife and ecological rehabilitation near Poyang Lake in 2014 and 2015, Zhou said.
The migratory birds, including storks, cranes, egrets and wild geese, fly to Poyang, China's largest freshwater lake, from Siberia, Mongolia, Japan and northern China in late September and stay until April. Some of them, such as oriental storks, are on the country's top protection list for wild animals.
The birds were seen eating and trampling crops near the lake in October, the beginning of the harvest season for late rice, Tao said.
"Since we are not supposed to hurt the wildlife, we have to scare them away by knocking gongs or basins, setting off firecrackers, or placing sticks in the fields with red ribbons or plastic bags tied to them," said Tao.
Damage from birds could cut their rice harvest in half, with economic losses of up to 400 yuan per mu. The compensation of 56 yuan per mu was far from enough, Tao said.
Yu Denggen, head of the district's forestry bureau, said according to their calculation, around 2,000 hectares of crops around the lake were damaged by birds, with a total of 1.65 million yuan allocated as compensation.
According to Chinese law, the local government must compensate victims for losses caused by wild animals. However, as most local governments have no compensation standards or specific budget allocation for the damage, enforcement has been poor.
China's top legislature, the National People's Congress (NPC), is deliberating an amendment to the Wildlife Law, the first since it came into force in 1989. The amendment draft submitted to the NPC in December provides for compensation or insurance for those who suffer property damage such as loss of crops or injury while protecting wildlife.
World Wildlife Day was observed on Thursday. This year's theme was "the future of wildlife is in our hands," and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on all citizens, businesses and governments to play their part in protecting the world's wild animals and plants.
"With the compensation, villagers are more willing to participate in wildlife protection," Tao said.
