STORY: Nature reserve in east China becoming paradise for int'l migratory birds
SHOOTING TIME: Nov. 15, 2023
DATELINE: Nov. 21, 2023
LENGTH: 00:02:08
LOCATION: DONGYING, China
CATEGORY: ENVIRONMENT

SHOTLIST:
1. file footage of various birds in the Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (Chinese): LIU JING, Deputy director of Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve management committee
3. file footage of the Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve
4. SOUNDBITE 2 (Chinese): ZHAO YAJIE, Deputy director of Yellow River Delta ecological monitoring center

STORYLINE:

The Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve in Dongying, east China's Shandong Province, has become a paradise for migratory birds, thanks to continued efforts in wetland conservation.

Millions of birds pass by the reserve annually, making here a key area for international migratory bird protection. In recent years, the reserve has witnessed growing technological measures providing safeguards.

SOUNDBITE 1 (Chinese): LIU JING, Deputy director of Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve management committee
"We have refined the extensive management of the reserve in past few years by establishing a scientific monitoring platform for ecological compensation of water. This ensures that the water in the reserve can be drawn and retained based on the needs of animals and plants."

In recent years, Dongying has implemented multiple ecological restoration projects, lifting water diversion capacity per second from less than 40 cubic meters to 131 cubic meters.

The natural vegetation coverage rate of the reserve now reaches 55.1%, making it the largest newly formed wetland natural vegetation area along the coast of China.

Thanks to wetland restoration efforts, the number of bird species in the delta nature reserve has almost doubled from 187 in 1992 to over 370 by this March.

To better protect its inhabitants and track their activities, the reserve established a monitoring center in 2021.

SOUNDBITE 2 (Chinese): ZHAO YAJIE, Deputy director of Yellow River Delta ecological monitoring center
"Previously, we had to count the birds by our own eyes in the wild. Now, we are increasingly using advanced equipment. For example, now we use AI recognition system based on the monitoring results to automatically count the numbers of the migratory birds. In addition, for those endangered bird species, we adopt satellite telemetry for precise positioning. The increasingly rich monitoring methods help us better know about the behaviors and needs of the birds more scientifically."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Dongying, China.
(XHTV)