The World Bank has approved a US$9.5 million grant from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to help China increase water productivity and reduce pollution discharges in the three river basins entering the Bohai Sea, by mainstreaming and scaling up an innovative approach to integrated water and environmental management. China’s Bohai Sea is one of the world’s most ecologically stressed water bodies. The degradation of the Bohai Sea is mainly due to decreasing fresh water inflows and increasing pollution loads. Average annual fresh water inflows to the sea have been reduced by over 50 percent over the last few decades. More than 40 rivers that flow into the Bohai Sea are severely polluted. There are some 105 discrete pollution sources located along its coast that discharge directly into the sea.
