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Mangrove campaigner wins award

LONDON: China’s mangrove campaigner Liu Yi has won the Whitley Award for grassroots nature conservation.

The 26-year-old student, who is in his last year for his master ’s degree at Xiamen University in south China’s Fujian Province, received the award on Wednesday from HRH The Princess Royal (Princess Anne) at the Royal Geographical Society in London for his efforts in restoring and expanding the mangrove forests that protect coastal communities from sea surges and benefit biodiversity in the eastern coast of China. Mr. Liu became the youngest ever recipient of a Whitley Award presented by the Whitley Fund for Nature (WFN) — a charity in Britain which administers the international awards programme and celebrates its 15th anniversary this year. Edward Whitley, founder of the fund, said: “The aim of the Whitley Awards is to find and support the environmental leaders who are helping to build a future where nature and people co-exist in a way that benefits both.

The example given by people like Liu Yi is an inspiration for us all.” As part of his prize, he receives a Whitley Award project grant of £30,000 donated by HSBC Private Bank, plus long-term support and the opportunity to seek further WFN funding, currently worth more than £400,000 a year. “I would use all the award money for the work we’re doing in China if I could win it,” he said earlier in an interview, not sure about the results. The award to Mr. Liu recognised his work in five south eastern provinces of China, where he is spearheading a campaign to protect, restore and expand the region’s mangroves. Through the 7-year campaign, Mr. Liu is promoting research, encouraging forest rehabilitation and providing public education, community development and training. The programme has so far involved 2,00,000 people, mostly volunteers, and replanted more than 1,50,000 mangrove trees. Mr. Liu is now eager to spread his work across to other coastal parts of China, where 70 per cent of mangrove forests have been lost.

The judges also picked two winners for the scheme’s top prize — the Whitley Gold Award — which went jointly to Rodrigo Hucke- Gaete from Chile and Cagan Sekercioglu from Turkey with £60,000 project funding each. Other Whitley Award and Associate Award winners came from Bangladesh, Borneo, Brazil, Guatemala, Haiti, India and Peru.

Mr. Whitley said the Whitley Fund for Nature will also strive to support the winners by offering them opportunities to seek further funding in future years and by uniting them with other donors and conservation organisations. — Xinhua

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