Guangdong will build an ecological corridor in the Pearl River Delta region for migratory birds before the end of 2025 by including the Houhai Bay area into its system.
According to a plan (2020-2025) released by the Guangdong Provincial Forestry Bureau, the province will build 19 corridors that constitute a bird diversity protection network in the Pearl River Delta area.
With rich resources of forests, wetlands and the estuary system of the Pearl River, the Delta area is a congregation area of birds that mainly reside in Houhai Bay, Qi’ao Island and Hengqin Island in Zhuhai, the Yamen area in Xinhui, and the bay area in Taishan.
Data showed the Pearl River Delta region is home to 126 species of birds including 10 State-protected species and 23 species that have been listed on Guangdong’s protection list. Four of them have been included in the appendix of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
Among all the birds in the Pearl River Delta region, 87 species, or 69 percent of the total, are migratory birds. They make up the majority of the migratory birds on the routes of avian migration in East Asia.
Under the plan, the bird diversity protection network, covering 313,200 hectares, will be built on a base of 74 mudflats distributed throughout the Pearl River, Xijiang River and Dongjiang River estuaries.
The 19 corridors will be grouped into the northern main corridor that satisfies migration of inland freshwater birds from the Xijiang River to the Pearl River and the Dongjiang River, and the southern main corridor for seawater birds along the coast from Jiangmen, Zhuhai to Guangzhou, Zhongshan, Shenzhen and Huizhou.
Shenzhen’s Houhai Bay area is a major resting place and key node on the migratory route of global migratory birds. Shenzhen is now providing an ideal habitat for the birds through restoration of mangrove forest ecological environment, fishing bans and pollution control.
The Houhai Bay area has become the home for nearly 100,000 birds to stay over the winter. They include four endangered species of birds such as the black-faced spoonbills.
Authorities have initiated coastal restoration projects in the Houhai Bay area. In the provincial plan, Guangdong will restore the environment of wetlands covering 200 hectares before the end of the year. A total of 19 education bases will be built in the wetland areas.