WWF launches program for wetlands protection along Yangtze

CHANGSHA, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Fifteen college teams across China have been selected for the 2019 Wetland Ambassador action program launched Saturday to promote protection of the Yangtze, the country's longest river.

This year's program, co-held by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Sanjiangyuan national park administration bureau, focuses on the status, opportunities and challenges of wetlands conservation along the Yangtze.

The teams that attended the launching in Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province, will receive a three-day special training in project design, implementation, publicity and filming.

The wetland ambassadors are supposed to go deep into the wetlands to carry out research as well as promotional and educational activities on the systematic protection and overall rehabilitation of the Yangtze River Basin.

"Over the past two decades, the program has played an important role in promoting wetland conservation in China," said Wei Baoyu, a WWF representative, noting that it had trained numerous talents among college students who help spread the concept of wetland conservation.

Initiated by the WWF in 2001, the Wetland Ambassador program has attracted more than 5,300 teachers and students to carry out over 400 research and promotional activities along the Heilongjiang, Yangtze, Yellow and Mekong rivers.