Dongying calls for global estuary protection

DONGYING, China–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The World Estuarine Cities Conference for Cooperation and Development was held in Dongying, a coastal city in East China’s Shandong province, on Nov 10.

The conference, entitled “Embrace the Sea for a Shared Future”, is designed to help estuarine cities around the world learn from each other about best practices in ecological protection and high-quality development.

Diplomatic envoys, representatives of international organizations and government officials attended the event via both online and offline channels.

“Estuaries are the rainforests of our ocean,” said Susan Gardner, director of the Ecosystems Division of the United Nations Environment Programme via a video address. “Their protection, restoration and sustainable management are crucial to attain our sustainable development goals.”

Promoting ecological protection and high-quality development is a common issue faced by estuarine cities across the world, Yang Guoqiang, Party secretary of Dongying, said during the conference.

Estuarine cities closely link the diversified ecosystems of rivers, land and oceans with human social and economic activities, meaning they play an important role in the sustainable and high-quality development of estuaries, said Chen Mingxing, professor at the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The report to the recent 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China stressed the concept that “lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets” and emphasized the importance of ecological conservation and environmental protection.

Dongying has made significant progress in ecological protection over the past 10 years. The city sits where the Yellow River flows into the Bohai Sea and has focused on preserving wetlands and biodiversity in the Yellow River Delta region. During the 2012-21 period, the city completed 16 wetland protection and restoration projects with 6,192 hectares of wetlands developed or restored.

A Dongying initiative was also announced at the conference, calling for global cooperation in ecological protection and high-quality development and in promoting the growth and prosperity of estuarine cities.

Contacts

Dongying Municipal Publicity Department

Alina Liu

szfwz@shandong.cn