A Cross-provincial (regional) Joint Campaign for Bird Migration Channel Protection was launched in Lanshan County, Hunan's Yongzhou, on October 11, 2024. Four provinces and one region participate in the campaign, namely Hunan Province, Hubei Province, Jiangxi Province, Guangdong Province, and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, Hunan is an important thoroughfare and also a crucial wintering site in central China for migratory birds. Hunan's Dongting Lake, China's second largest freshwater lake, is one of the best habitats and stopover sites for the wintering birds migrating along the northeast Asian migration route. Yongzhou's Lanshan, Chenzhou's Guidong, and Zhuzhou's Yanling are important areas to ensure the safety of migratory birds along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway which is known as a "Millennium Bird Trail".

In recent years, Hunan has thoroughly implemented President Xi Jinping's thought on ecological civilization, carrying out the arrangements and requirements of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration and solidly enhancing migratory bird protection. A survey that began in January recorded 381,800 waterbirds in the Dongting Lake area. The populations of nationally protected birds such as Chinese merganser, white crane, and black stork are on the rise.

Yongzhou is located at the Xiangjiang River source area and in the hinterland of the Nanling Mountains. With its water environment quality ranking at the forefront nationwide, it is an important ecological functional area in the province. The whole territory of Yongzhou is covered by one of the four major bird migration channels—the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, and 14 bird migration routes pass through it. Every year, about 3.5 million migratory birds from more than 100 species make their way through Nanfeng'ao in Lanshan County, heading south for overwintering or north for breeding.

Hunan and the other four participating provinces and region are geographically, hydrologically, and culturally connected, providing a strong foundation for cooperation in migratory bird protection. The establishment of the cross-provincial (regional) joint protection mechanism for the bird migration channels will facilitate cooperation in such aspects as migratory bird information sharing, joint law enforcement, guarding, publicity and education, technologies, habitat protection, and ecological economy, creating a model for regional cooperative protection of migratory birds in the country.

This article is from the Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Pang Yuehui

Chinese sources: hunantoday; Rednet

Photo source: Voice of Hunan