 In mid-2014, the Chinese government announced it was building a multi-tier transport network, comprising railways, roads and airports, to create a new economic belt alongside the river.The Yangtze flows through a wide array of ecosystems and is habitat to several endemic and threatened species including the Chinese alligator, the narrow-ridged finless porpoise and the Yangtze sturgeon, but also was the home of the extinct Yangtze river dolphin (or "baiji") and Chinese paddlefish.In recent years, the river has suffered from industrial pollution, plastic pollution, agricultural run-off, siltation, and loss of wetland and lakes, which exacerbates seasonal flooding.