The 2017 Yancheng International Symposium on the Conservation and Management of the Intertidal Wetland of the Yellow and Bohai Seas was held on Dec 14 in Yancheng, Jiangsu.
More than 100 Chinese and foreign experts exchanged views on topics such as wetland conservation in the Yellow and Bohai seas, applying for world natural heritage and sustainable development.
The Yellow Sea wetland is already on the candidate list for world natural heritage and a formal application is underway.
With 18,900 square kilometers of sea area, Yancheng has the largest and best-preserved coastal wetland on the west coast of the Pacific Ocean and the edge of the Asian continent, totaling 770,000 hectares.
At present, the Yancheng coastal wetland is home to more than 2,000 types of animals, including 41 types of level-1 and level-2 nationally protected species. Nearly 1,000 reed parrotbills, the "avian giant panda", have been discovered here, and over 600 red-crowned cranes fly here every year to spend winter, accounting for 21 percent of the total number of red-crowned cranes in the world. There are also 4,200 elk, comprising over half of the world’s total.
As the lead applicant of the world natural heritage status for the Yellow and Bohai Sea wetlands, Yancheng will work with the Yellow Sea Ecological Zone to study the heritage application, conservation and management.
