Southernmost city to revitalize mangrove areas

Zhanjiang, Guangdong province, will revitalize 4,183 hectares of mangroves to create a carbon sink economy before 2025.

The city aims to couple  mangrove protection with aquaculture growth, according to a statement released by the city government on Wednesday. 

The Zhanjiang city government will integrate culture, ecology and industry as it integrates mangrove ecotourism, coastal vacations, agricultural sightseeing, leisure and fisheries to turn mangrove ecotourism into a new engine in Zhanjiang's coastal tourism development, it said. 

Located on the Leizhou Peninsula, Zhanjiang, now has a total of 9,960 hectares of mangrove areas, accounting for 33 percent of the country's total and 78 percent of Guangdong's total. It has country's largest area of mangrove nature reserves.

The improving environment and expanding mangrove areas, along with the diverse ecological environment in Zhanjiang, have helped the city attract all kinds of rare migratory birds in recent years, with 235 species of birds in Zhanjiang's mangrove areas, including 33 species listed in the national key protection list and 34 that appear on the Guangdong provincial protection list. 

Zhanjiang has become an important passageway for migratory birds from around the world and an important bird habitat in Guangdong. Mangrove areas in Zhanjiang sustain fish, shrimp, crabs and other ocean resources. They play an important role in protecting the local ecology.