There are many such cases, not only in China but all over the world. All along, the vision of ecological civilization is "Harmony Between Man and Nature”. For China, 2020 is a “super year”. According to “China’s 13th Five Year Plan”, the urbanization rate of China’s permanent population will reach 60% by 2020. At the same time, 2020 is the final year of the current UN Biodiversity Protection Targets (i.e. “Aichi Biodiversity Targets”), while the new “Post 2020 UN Biodiversity Targets” will be born in China.

So, how should urbanization be environmentally friendly and practice ecological civilization?

In addition, how to avoid the cost of biodiversity in the process of urbanization and economic development?

In response, Dr. Zhou Jinfeng said, this is a very big topic, which can be talked about for days and nights. Let’s focus on today’s topic: urbanization and extinction. He talked about the work cases of endangered species such as Relic Gulls and Oriental Storks this year.

He first introduced the example of Baguatan in Tianjin. There is a coastal wetland in Tianjin, which is an important habitat for relic gulls, named Baguatan. Although it is a small beach, it has a very important ecological function. The beach attracts thousands of relic gulls (national first-class protected animals) to live through the winter every year. The background is that in the 40 years since the reform and opening up, only about 5% of Tianjin's natural coastline has been left, and most of the natural coastline has disappeared in the process of urbanization. This is the huge impact of urbanization on nature. A natural beach is a place for birds to find food. Without food, birds cannot survive. On May 12th, we received a report from the volunteers that during the Labor Day holiday this year, a large number of tourists came to Tianjin beach to collect shells from the sea, which had a devastating impact on the beach. Since this year's Labor Day, more than 2,000 people have been digging shells on the beach every day. In the long run, the damage to the beach will be devastating. In October of each year, more than 11,600 relic gulls come here to survive the winter, accounting for more than 90% of the total number of relic gulls in the world. The behavior of digging clams and picking up shellfish has seriously damaged the ecological environment of the habitat of the relic gulls. Social media, such as Tik Tok, aggravate this phenomenon, making people drive away to collect clams and become a hot place for internet celebrities. However, such an important place is neither a conservation area nor within the scope of the ecological red line and is not protected by law.

Beach wetland is the natural deliver room of marine life. The destruction and devastation of the beach wetland are accompanied by the silent destruction of a large number of small marine life. Therefore, we took urgent action and immediately sent staff to Baguatan with local environmental protection volunteers to publicize the people who came to the sea. At the same time, CBCGDF sent urgent letters to the relevant national departments and departments of Tianjin, calling for attention and proposing to strengthen the protection of relic gulls. We soon received a positive response. With the call and cooperation of CBCGDF and relevant local departments, Tianjin Binhai New Area later issued the “Notice on Protecting the Habitat of Rare Birds and the Habitat of the Relic Gulls, Prohibiting the Indiscriminate Mining and Excavation in Baguatan Area”, and strengthening the protection of Baguatan.

Original Chinese article:

http://www.cbcgdf.org/NewsShow/4854/10776.html

By / Xue Tongtong