Volunteers crucial for mangrove center: adviser

Sun Lili, a municipal political adviser and founder of the Shenzhen Mangrove Wetlands Conservation Foundation (MCF), suggested making full use of the city’s volunteer resources to contribute to the construction of the international mangrove center in Shenzhen at the annual meeting of the city’s political advisory body that kicked off Monday.

Sun Lili at the annual meeting of the city’s political advisory body Monday. Courtesy of the interviewee

Sun told Shenzhen Daily that Shenzhen has a good foundation in volunteer services as the number of registered volunteers in Shenzhen to date has exceeded 3.5 million, including over 4,000 expat volunteers. In other words, there is one registered volunteer for every five people living in Shenzhen.

Over the past 10 years, the MCF has cultivated batches of volunteers who are professional nature and wetland educators.

Sun proposed recruiting more volunteers to form a mangrove volunteer team. She believed that the city’s foreign volunteers can also use their language skills to become part of the group to jointly contribute to the construction of Shenzhen’s international mangrove center.

In Sun’s eyes, foreign volunteers are like mangroves that have taken root in the city, which perfectly indicates the city’s inclusiveness and openness. Sun said that the mangrove volunteer team will be diverse, open and inclusive. She also hoped to attract more young overseas returnees to join the team.

According to Sun, citizens, especially registered volunteers, are encouraged to visit other places with mangrove wetlands abroad to bring back valuable mangrove-related experience. In turn, foreign volunteers can share with other foreigners the city’s efforts in mangrove and environmental protection.

“The construction of the international mangrove center in Shenzhen will definitely bring more international exchanges and cooperation to the city,” Sun said.