Nearly 400 individuals, along with three schools representing more than 2,500 students have written a letter to the Beijing government to ask for a new park to be designed not only for people, but also for nature. A wonderful initiative that has the potential to change attitudes about the design, and purpose, of urban parks.
What do people want from a park? The conventional wisdom in Beijing is that local residents want somewhere “beautiful to look at, neat and tidy”. Anyone who has enjoyed one or more of the city’s parks will have noticed that they are certainly neat, tidy and well-maintained, with an army of workers collecting litter, tidying up dropped leaves, spraying insecticide and strimming any vegetation more than a few centimetres high. But what does this meticulous management mean for wildlife? In most cases, although many parks provide temporary shelter for migrant birds during spring and autumn, Beijing’s parks are generally wildlife-deprived. There are signs that this may be about to change.
And, as part of Beijing’s ‘greening’, the government is planning a series of new parks on the outskirts of Beijing. One such park is being planned along part of the Wenyu River, a well-known birding spot, an important habitat for wintering waterbirds, and a corridor for migrants in spring and autumn. In total, more than 300 species of bird have been recorded along the river, including endangered species with Class I protection in China, such as Scaly-sided Merganser and Yellow-breasted Bunting. Parks in the capital are traditionally designed by landscaping companies with little understanding of the needs of wildlife. Fortunately, in the case of the Wenyu River park, the local government has invited Peking University and Beijing Forestry University to provide advice on how to make the new park better for wildlife. Several suggestions have been made, including using a ‘zoning’ system for activities such as fishing and recreation in order to ensure some areas are relatively undisturbed.
The academics working on these proposals suggested that a letter from local residents to make it known that they would like their park to be designed not only for human leisure but also for wildlife, would strengthen their case.
A few weeks later, the letter below has been submitted to the Director General of the Beijing Forest and Parks Bureau and the local governments of Shunyi and Chaoyang Districts (the river marks the border of these two districts and the park will include land on both sides of the river). The letter has been signed by three local schools, representing more than 2,500 students, and nearly 400 individuals.
The hope is that the letter will demonstrate to government that the traditional view that people want parks to be places solely for human recreation is out of date and that, in a modern global city, people want their parks to deliver multiple benefits, including supporting and nurturing wildlife.
Changing attitudes takes time but, with 190 countries due to meet in Kunming, Yunnan Province, in October to thrash out a new international framework to tackle the global biodiversity crisis (the 15th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, commonly known as COP15), it is clear that governments – both national and subnational – business, and indeed all of society will need to integrate biodiversity considerations into their operations if the world is to be successful in slowing and halting biodiversity loss. The role of cities, home to more than 50% of the world population (expected to increase to 66% by 2050), is vital not only in terms of supporting urban wildlife and providing safe spaces for migrant birds to navigate large urban areas, but also to allow the increasingly disconnected urban population to connect with nature.
We await the response of the Beijing Municipal government with interest. A huge thank you to everyone who signed and promoted the letter. It is wonderful to see the overwhelming support from local residents for Beijing’s public parks to put the interests of wildlife at the heart of their design and management.
Title image: a river providing space for people and wildlife by Madeleine Donahue
A few weeks ago I was invited to contribute an article to China Dialogue, one of the most respected platforms on China issues relating to the environment. In the build up to what will be arguably the most important meeting ever on nature, due to take place in Kunming, Yunnan Province, in 2021, biodiversity is climbing the political agenda. However, it would be a mistake to think that national governments alone can solve the nature crisis. Home to the majority of the world’s population, cities have a vital role to play. My article focuses on how Beijing could help to show the way in designing and managing a city that is good for people and for nature. You can read it here (available in English and Chinese).
Featured image: an artist’s impression of the “wild ring road” that could help link habitats around Beijing, whilst at the same time providing a place for leisure and environmental education for Beijingers. By Madeleine Donahue.
It is with a heavy heart that I must report the loss of Баян (BAYAN), one of the Mongolian Cuckoos.
The last signals received from his tag were at 1035 local time on 12 May 2020 and showed him almost exactly 100km north of Kunming in China’s Yunnan Province. Since then, there has been radio silence. The following analysis of the data from BAYAN’s tag was provided by Dr Chris Hewson of the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) who fitted the tag to BAYAN in Mongolia in June 2019:
“…there were some slightly unusually high temps around 1000 local time on 9/5 – reaching 40-41 C on the scale of the PTTs, compared to a normal max in the high c 35 C even in Africa (it does rise to around 37-38 C on occasion though). The tag temperature was also pretty cool the next morning, probably cooler than it should be – down to about 26 C, which is probably indicative of lack of regulation of tag temp due to behaviour / absence of body temp buffering of temp. My best guess, all things considered, is that Bayan died between 1000 8/5 and 1000 9/5. The circumstances of disappearance are similar to Flappy who died in Myanmar on spring migration. These birds are really racing on spring migration, which might leave them vulnerable to not finding good stopovers / predation etc.”
In the small hope that the tag’s temperature sensor was malfunctioning or there was an alternative explanation, we waited a few days for further signals. None were forthcoming, strongly suggesting that BAYAN had indeed died on 8 or 9 May 2020.
It is always sad when we lose a tracked bird but we should celebrate his life and the impact he has had on people around the world.
BAYAN’s journey took him from Mongolia to Mozambique and back to China, crossing 31 borders involving 18 countries and a total distance of c24,000km. Outward journey from Mongolia to Mozambique in yellow, return in orange. Block dot shows location of last signals, 100km north of Kunming, Yunnan Province on 12 May 2020.
After crossing the Arabian Sea to India, hot on the heels of ONON, he captivated a country with an incredible surge of interest among people in India, most of whom were previously unaware of the distances travelled by some of the most familiar migratory birds. Below are just a few of the reactions to BAYAN’s crossing of the Arabian Sea:
BAYAN is almost going in same path as ONON, we are waiting to welcome BAYAN in India🇮🇳
Enjoying Onon and Bayan journey..found something new in life.and admist this lockdown.mthis is such a beautiful stuff..ful of positivity.. This is called " real leap of faith".
One of the main purposes of the project was to reach and inspire more people about the wonders of bird migration. Judging from the reaction on social media, BAYAN certainly did that.
Being able to follow the incredible journeys of these cuckoos opens our eyes to the phenomenal endurance of these birds and the mind-boggling distances they travel. It also reminds us that migratory birds live life on the edge with little margin for error.
If there is one message BAYAN, whose name translates as “prosper”, could carry with him, I am sure it would be something like this:
“Migratory birds like me don’t recognise human borders. We travel around the Earth, crossing oceans and deserts, powered sustainably by caterpillars, just to survive and breed. As humans, you are changing the planet in profound ways. Please ensure there are places for us to rest and refuel along the way so that we all may prosper.”
The fact that we last heard from BAYAN close to Kunming, Yunnan Province in China is fitting. Next year, this city is due to host the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, at which governments are due to agree a “new deal for nature” including targets to slow and reverse the loss of biodiversity. In many ways it is the most important meeting ever on nature.
Wouldn’t it be good to think that BAYAN’s legacy is to send his message to delegates to the UN meeting in Kunming?
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Thank you to everyone who has supported, followed and engaged with Баян (BAYAN) and the other Mongolian Cuckoos during this project. You have all helped to raise awareness about migratory birds and the places they need.
BAYAN’s journey at a glance:
7 June 2019: fitted with a tag (number 170437) at Khurkh in northern Mongolia.
11 June 2019: named by schoolchildren at Khurkh Village School
7 June 2019 to 9 May 2020: Mongolia – China – Myanmar – India – Bangladesh – India – Oman – Saudi Arabia – Yemen – Saudi Arabia – Eritrea – Ethiopia – South Sudan – Kenya – Uganda – Kenya – Tanzania – Mozambique – Malawi – Mozambique – Malawi – Mozambique – Zambia – Malawi – Tanzania – Kenya – Somalia – India – Bangladesh – India – Myanmar – China (31 border crossings involving 18 countries)
Last week I was honoured to be invited to deliver a series of lectures about biodiversity to more than 3,500 students at schools in Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan Province. Inspired by China hosting the United Nations Conference on Biological Diversity in October 2020, the local government commissioned these lectures to raise awareness of biodiversity among its students and to advance the students’ English language skills.
Of course, these students are lucky to live in Sichuan Province, an area with some of the most biodiverse temperate forests in the world (thanks to being shielded by the mountains during the last ice age). There are many mammals, birds and plants that are found nowhere else on Earth.
As is often the case when speaking to students in China, I was immensely impressed with their work ethic (they get up at 0630 and study until 2130 every day), their enthusiasm for nature and their creative ideas about how to make a difference.
After each lecture, the students were given an assignment to find out about a species of mammal, bird or plant found only in Sichuan, to write about why it is special and to set out their ideas for how to ensure it is protected. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be reviewing the submissions and selecting the best to be recognised by the government.
Huge thanks to 新东方 (New Oriental) for making the arrangements.
The lectures were delivered to the following schools (in a mixture of Chinese and English):
成都外国语学校初中部 – Chengdu Foreign Language School (Junior Middle School)
成都外国语学校高中部 – Chengdu Foreign Language School (High School)
实验外国语学校初中部 – Experimental Foreign Language School (Junior High)
实验外国语学校高中部 – Experimental Foreign Language School (High School)
棠湖外国语学校高中部 – Tanghu Foreign Language School (High School)
成都七中 – Chengdu Seventh Middle School
棕北中学 – ZongBei Middle School
实验外国语学校西区 – Experimental Foreign Language School (West District)
When you think of Beijing, what image comes into your head? The Great Wall? Maybe Tiananmen Square? Or maybe air pollution? For those of a more mature generation, maybe even the picture of a city full of bicycles..? Whatever the image, I suspect that for most people, birds or wildlife might not be front and centre.
That could be about to change.
In 2020, Beijing will host the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). This clumsily-named UN convention meets every two years and I suspect most people not directly involved with the process would be hard pressed to say much about any of the previous meetings or what has been achieved. However, the 2020 meeting promises to be different. It is the time when governments are due to conclude an agreement on targets and measures to slow, stop and eventually reverse the loss of wildlife on Earth.
The meeting will take place in the context of the most recent Living Planet index showing that, since 1970, we have lost more than 60% of the animals on our planet. That is a shocking statistic and should be a wake-up call for governments and the public everywhere.
As host of the CBD, the Chinese government will want a successful outcome and, with recent progress towards President Xi Jinping’s vision of ‘ecological civilisation’ including a ban on further reclamation of intertidal mudflats and nomination of key coastal wetland sites for World Heritage status, the creation of a national park system, species-specific conservation work, e.g. on Baer’s Pochard and Scaly-sided Merganser, the country is creating the foundation for a positive story to tell.
But what about the host city? Could hosting the CBD be an opportunity to change the global image of Beijing from one of a crowded, polluted, grid-locked city to one of the world’s best capital cities for wildlife?
Beijing is already one of the best major capital cities in the world for birds, with around 500 species recorded. And in case the Mayor of Beijing is reading, here are some ideas that would require very limited resources but which could have a major impact on Beijing’s image:
Idea 1: A world-class wetland reserve in Beijing
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Beijing had a large waterbody that could be an important stopover site for migratory birds, including cranes, geese, ducks, shorebirds and others? Well, just 75km from Tiananmen Square lies Miyun Reservoir. It is Beijing’s largest drinking water reservoir and, until public access was prohibited in April 2016, it was the best birding site in the capital attracting flocks of cranes, bustards and large numbers of waterfowl, not to mention huge numbers of buntings in winter. However, after a large fire in the area and concerns about water quality, much of the land around the reservoir – ideal habitat for shorebirds, cranes, bustards, birds of prey, buntings and pipits – has been cleared and planted with mostly non-native trees in monocultures. This policy has undoubtedly had a negative impact on birds. Whilst it is understandable to prioritise water quality, this need not be at the expense of wildlife. Internationally, there are examples of reservoirs being managed for both water quality and wildlife. One example is Rutland Water, England’s largest drinking water reservoir. In fact, Rutland Water is managed for three objectives – water quality, birds and recreation. If we can share this experience and demonstrate that a large water body can be managed as a place for wildlife as well as water quality, there would be an opportunity to develop a management plan for Miyun Reservoir that maintained a high standard of water quality whilst attracting world-class numbers of cranes and other waterbirds and providing limited public access, attracting millions of visitors each year and an associated boost to the local economy. Given the CBD conference will likely be in the last quarter of the year, the Beijing government could even invite international media to see the large flocks of cranes that would almost certainly be present if the area was managed sympathetically.
Potential benefits:
– High standard of water quality
– Providing a refuge for thousands of waterbirds, including threatened and endangered species such as cranes and bustards
– Providing opportunities for the urban population to connect with nature
– Through the visiting public staying in local hotels and eating in local restaurants, bringing income to the local people in relatively poor Miyun county
Idea 2: 10% Wild
The Summer Palace, Beijing..
Beijing enjoys some large and expansive green spaces. Parks such as the Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace, Yuanmingyuan (Old Summer Palace) and the Olympic Forest Park are all hugely popular places providing urban Beijingers with opportunities to enjoy the outdoors. Anyone who has visited these parks will know that they are heavily manicured with an army of staff ready to collect any leaf that falls or any blade of grass that grows in one of the cultivated flower beds. These parks are over-managed to the extent that they are not as friendly for wildlife as they could be. One idea is for the management of these spaces to leave “10% wild”. This would mean no significant active management of an allocated part of the park – no use of insecticides, no removal of native plants and no cutting of grass or removal of fallen leaves. Each park could partner with a local school, the students of which would be invited to undertake surveys of biodiversity – insects, birds and plants – and compare the “10% wild” with other managed parts of the park. Interpretation signs around the allocated area could promote this experiment to visitors, publishing the results of the student surveys and helping to engage the public about wildlife. After two years there could be a review to assess the results and to explore whether the experiment should be expanded.
Potential benefits:
– More and better habitat for wildlife in urban Beijing
– Students at local schools become citizen scientists
– Public engagement on the role of parks in providing homes for wildlife in cities
– Fewer resources needed for park management
Idea 3: Urban wildlife oases
An urban oasis in Shunyi District
Beijing lies on the East Asian-Australasian Flyway and, every spring and autumn, millions of birds pass the Chinese capital on their way to and from breeding grounds to the north and wintering grounds to the south. To make these remarkable journeys, birds require places to rest and refuel along the way. The trans-continental journeys, such as those of the Beijing Swift and Beijing Cuckoo, are challenging for the hardiest of birds, and the challenges are only increased as vast areas of natural habitat along migration pathways are altered or eliminated, making it difficult for exhausted birds to find suitable places to rest and refuel.
“Urban wildlife oases” could provide ‘stepping stones’ for migrating birds to cross urban areas where there is limited quality habitat. Each community has the potential to provide important habitat for native birds – and a richer, more beautiful place to live for people.
To illustrate the potential, I’d like to convey my experience with a patch of land close to my apartment in Shunyi District. Surrounded by new developments, including apartments and shopping malls, this 1km x 1km patch of land, very close to the airport, has yet to be developed and, in the two years since I moved to the area and in almost 100 visits, I have recorded 156 species of bird, five species of mammal and nine species of butterfly. Highlights have included Band-bellied Crake, Pallas’s Rosefinch, Siberian Thrush and Rough-legged Buzzard, demonstrating the importance of the site to migratory birds.
The Shunyi patch is a small area (1km x 1km) of undisturbed land close to Beijing Capital International Airport. The 156 bird species recorded (of which at least 140 are migrants) in just over 2 years shows how important such areas are for migratory birds.
Maintaining a patchwork of urban oases across the city, potentially with some limited public access, would cost little – beyond the opportunity cost of the land – and provide significant benefits to both wildlife and people.
Potential benefits:
– providing shelter and food for some of the millions of migratory birds that pass through the capital each spring and autumn; plus important areas for breeding and wintering species
– with limited public access, these sites could provide the public with access to wild spaces and places for students from local schools to become citizen scientists
– interpretation would mean that these urban oases could act as outdoor classrooms for Beijing’s urban population
Idea 4: Adopting the Beijing Swift
A typical track of a Beijing Swift.
In 2015, a project involving Beijing Birdwatching Society and international experts discovered, for the first time, the migration route and wintering grounds of the Beijing Swift (Apus apus pekinensis). It was a hugely popular story, covered by mainstream media – both print and broadcast – and engaged millions of people, most of whom would never ordinarily take an interest in birds. The Beijing Swift is the perfect symbol for modern Beijing. One of the old names for Beijing is Yanjing, which, in Chinese, breaks down to “燕” (Yan) and “京” (Jing). The first character, “燕” means “swift” or “swallow”, so the name Yanjing could be interpreted as “Swift capital”. This bird also links China with Central Asia, the Gulf and Africa, aligned with the much-touted “One Belt, One Road” initiative to revive old trade routes. Why not formally adopt the Beijing Swift as the official bird of the Chinese capital? There can be no more appropriate candidate.
Potential benefits:
– Associating Beijing with a bird of endurance, elegance and global reach
– Greater public awareness about the wildlife of Beijing
– Encouragement to businesses and communities to help stem the decline of the Beijing Swift – caused by the demolition of traditional buildings – by erecting artificial nest boxes at suitable sites and encouraging the inclusion of Swift-friendly designs in new buildings
Idea 5: Removing the invisible killer: mist nets at China’s airports
When thousands of environmentally-minded people arrive in Beijing for the UN Conference on Biological Diversity, the first thing they will see is lines and lines of mist nets alongside the runway at Beijing Capital International Airport, many of which will hold bird corpses dangling in the wind. China’s policy to address the (serious) risk of bird strikes is to line each runway with several kilometres of mist nets. This method is only effective against small birds which, unless in large flocks, represent almost no risk to aircraft. Nets at ground level are ineffective against the more significant risks associated with flocks of large birds such as geese, swans or herons. In fact, guidance by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) makes no mention of mist nets as a way to mitigate the risk of bird strikes. Recommended good practice is to undertake a risk assessment at each airport to identify the unique risks from wildlife and take appropriate measures to address these specific risks. Non-lethal methods such as managing habitat, playing distress calls, using birds of prey etc are the most effective methods. China, with more than 300 airports, takes a general approach of simply erecting lines of mist nets. It’s lazy and ineffective. Could CBD be the catalyst for a review of this policy?
Potential benefits:
– stopping the unnecessary killing of millions of birds each year
– more effective management of the risk of bird strikes
– a better international image for China and Beijing
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With two years to go until Beijing hosts what will probably be the world’s largest governmental conference on biodiversity, there is ample time to develop a strategic plan that would make Beijing one of the world’s most wildlife-friendly cities. Instead of “smoggy Beijing”, wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to label Beijing as the capital of ecological civilisation? These are just five ideas. If you have more, please comment and let us know.. you never know who might be reading.
For a helpful general overview of the CBD process and the current status, read this article by Jonathan Watts.
