Nanjing, November 24 (Yu from Wenqi Zonghua) into the autumn and winter season, many tourists, photography enthusiasts come to Jiangsu Yancheng Dongtai Tiaozi Wetland, and more long-term engaged in biology, wetland science scholars with professional equipment to come, not for anything else, just to find the long-distance migration to this wetland to stay in the spoon-billed sandpiper, small blue-footed sandpiper and other rare birds in the world.
There are only more than 600 spoon-billed sandpipers in the world, which is a critically endangered migratory bird, and there are only more than 1,000 small blue-footed sandpipers in the world. Why do "small spoons" and small blue-footed sandpipers favor the Yellow Sea wetlands in Yancheng? Because it has the largest and most ecologically protected coastal wetlands on the west coast of the Pacific Ocean and the edge of the Asian continent, it is the central node of the East Asia-Australasia migratory bird migration route with the most endangered species and the highest degree of threat, and it is also an important "helipad" and "gas station" for spoon-billed sandpipers and small blue-footed sandpipers on their long migration.
Red-crowned cranes on the Yellow Sea wetland in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province. Photo courtesy of the Propaganda Department of the Yancheng City CPC Committee
Yifei Jia, 38, ph.D., of the East Asia-Australasian Migratory Bird Migration Research Center at Beijing Forestry University, studies wetland ecology and is his favorite waterbird. After counting birds for more than 20 years, it is not difficult to count the fist-sized spoon-billed sandpiper and the small blue-footed sandpiper that is 3 times its size, and what makes Jia Yifei most excited is that on October 5 this year, he counted the small blue-footed sandpipers in the stripe mud in Dongtai, Yancheng, and counted 1164, 14 more than the 1150 monitored by the stripe mud last year. This is the second consecutive year that the number of small blue-footed sandpipers has exceeded the academic estimate.
"The little blue-footed sandpiper likes dry ponds, doesn't love grass and trees, and blocks the view like that." Jia Yifei said that as an indicator species of wetland ecology, the small blue-footed sandpiper is of great significance in biodiversity conservation. "Their numbers have increased steadily in the past two years, indicating that this high-tide migratory bird habitat created by Yancheng last year is suitable for the small blue-footed sandpiper, and the wetland restoration and management here is effective."
Coastal wetlands, bird paradise. Photo courtesy of the Propaganda Department of the Yancheng City CPC Committee
As a city in the central area of the Yangtze River Delta, a local cooperation city in the China-South Korea Industrial Park, and a gateway city to the sea in the Huaihe River ecological and economic belt, Yancheng has strengthened biodiversity conservation in recent years and strived to achieve harmonious coexistence between man and nature. In particular, Yancheng Yellow Sea Wetland has been successfully included in the World Heritage List, more and more rare birds inhabit and settle here, elk populations and diffusion areas have developed rapidly, and the species and number of wild animals have increased significantly, Yancheng practices the "Two Mountains" theory, builds "green scenery" on the eastern coast, and provides "Yancheng samples" for biodiversity conservation.
On October 14, 2021, the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) opened in Kunming, and Yancheng won the title of the fifth batch of "National Ecological Civilization Construction Demonstration Cities", marking a new stage of green transformation and development in Yancheng. "Nature-based Solutions for the Restoration of Bird Habitats- Ecological Restoration Cases of Yancheng Yellow Sea Wetland Heritage Sites" recently stood out from 258 application cases from 26 countries on 7 continents and was selected as one of the "100+ Global Special Recommended Cases for Biodiversity".
The report of the Eighth Party Congress in Yancheng City proposed, "It is necessary to lead by example in practicing the 'Two Mountains' theory to promote green transformation." Actively compete for new tracks under the goal of 'double carbon', give full play to the advantages of wetland carbon sinks, world heritage ecological advantages, and new energy industry advantages, and realize the use of ecological advantages to change lanes and surpass. ”
For Yancheng, the Damei Wetland is the Jinshan Yinshan Mountain. The city actively practices the concept of "green water and green mountains are golden mountains and silver mountains", adheres to the good ecology as the most inclusive people's livelihood and well-being, eliminates backward production capacity and develops new energy industries through emission reduction, dust reduction and green addition, while fully implementing the river and lake length system, in 2020, Yancheng City ambient air quality comprehensive index 3.52, the province's first, water environment quality, sound environment quality and soil environmental quality continue to improve. "Four breakthroughs, one advance" has witnessed a historic breakthrough in the quality of Yancheng's ecological environment and reached the best level since the new century.
Jiangsu Yancheng is known as the hometown of golden beach yindang and fish and rice. Photo courtesy of the Propaganda Department of the Yancheng City CPC Committee
The autumn wind rises and the white clouds fly, and the grass and trees fall yellow and the geese return to the south. At this time of year, migratory birds migrating from north to south begin a grand meeting with the yellow sea wetlands. Here, they spend two to three months feeding and replenishing their strength before departing for southeast Asia or the tropics for wintering. In the following spring, they will still come to the strip mud, make a short stop, and then fly to the far north to breed.
The relevant person in charge of Yancheng City said that in the "post-heritage era", as the only world natural heritage site in the central area of the Yangtze River Delta, Yancheng will adhere to and innovate, follow the new development concept, a series of "hard-core" protection measures to leave blank for the ecology, leave resources for future generations, walk out of a new road of ecological priority and green development, create a "beautiful China" Yancheng sample, and let a "city living room" facing the sea and birds and flowers gather guests from all over the world and enter the lives of citizens. (End)
Source: China News Network