An alliance on nature education was set up at a meeting at the Shenzhen Museum of Contemporary Art and Urban Planning in Futian District on Monday.
The alliance was initiated to promote the high-quality development of the city’s nature education, highlighting the connection between the city and the ecological environment.
Ma Han, director of the forest administration department of the city’s natural resources authority, indicates the ecological environment in Shenzhen is unique as a home to a rich variety of wild animals and plants.
A total of 513 species of wild animals were recorded in Shenzhen. Three of them are on the first-tier list for national wild animal protection, and 39 of them are on the second-tier list for national wild animal protection.
Shenzhen also recorded 2,080 species of wild plants. Cycas fairylakea found in the city is among the top listed for national protection.
Six of 27 natural reserves in Shenzhen are on the national list. The 27 reserves cover an area of 812.43 square kilometers.
The city has placed priority on ecological protection, leading to natural resources being largely conserved. A school giving natural education, the first one in the country, was set up in OCT Wetland in 2014. Thirteen nature education centers were established in 2015. In recent years, the city has seen an increasing number of organizations and institutions focusing on nature education.
The natural resources authority aims to set up more nature education centers around the city, cultivate more talented professionals and recruit more volunteers.
The establishment of the alliance followed the launch of a new urban planning project that is highlighting the connection between the city and the ecological environment. The project, literally translated as “mountains and seas connecting the city,” plans to create an eco-spatial structure featuring one ridge, one coastal belt and 18 ecological corridors.
It is expected that the eco-spatial structure, together with more than 100 hiking trails and over 1,000 parks in the city, will make the city more livable.