Depth report

　　

Xinhua News Agency, Baise, Guangxi, November 6th - Title: Cross-border Ecological Corridor Reshaped, Boosting Bird-Watching Craze

Author: Zhang Guangquan, Ling Qinglu

On a crisp autumn morning, in the dense forest of Chemei Village, Nangpo County, Nangpo City, Guangxi Province, 71-year-old Lin Xiwen held his breath and focused intently. With a snap of the camera, not only was a moment of a large shrike flying captured, but also a witness to a cross-border ecological corridor connecting the two countries. This kind of vigilance has persisted for nine years.

The border area on the northernmost latitude of China and Vietnam is a key "service station" on the migratory route of birds from East Asia to Australia. Its unique natural environment makes it a natural refuge for numerous rare species of animals and plants.

"Birds don't understand boundaries. Their survival is our most genuine ecological answer." Over the past nine years, Lin Xiwen has taken more than 10,000 photos, documenting over 280 species of birds, of which 20 species were recorded for the first time in Guangxi. These images have formed a "folk archive" for long-term ecological monitoring.

Lin Xiwen's "folk archive" corroborates with official monitoring data, both pointing to the recovery of bird populations. What's more encouraging is that rare birds like the green-billed oriole are increasingly frequently observed on the Vietnamese side of the border. This indicates that the ecological restoration projects jointly promoted by both China and Vietnam have begun to accumulate effects, jointly building a seamless "bridge of life".

These life images are not only valuable for research. Through social media dissemination, they attract bird-watching enthusiasts and photographers from all over the world, including those from Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam and Thailand. Nguyen Van Thinh, an ecological photographer from Ha Long Province of Vietnam, is one of them. With 18 years of bird-watching experience, he regards Nangpo as a "bird-watching treasure land" and has observed rare bird species such as the black-necked long-tailed pheasant and the blue-backed eight-color oriole here.

"The power of images transcends language and borders." Nguyen Van Thinh said that the bird photos he posted on social media often elicited amazement from Vietnamese netizens, "It turns out that we share so many beautiful lives with China." "Guarding the common home" has gradually become a consensus among cross-border people.

However, the path of protection is not smooth. Fragmentation of habitats, illegal hunting, and changes in migration patterns due to climate change are still common challenges in the protection of the border area. Nguyen Van Thinh looks forward to the future, hoping that Vietnam and China can establish a data-sharing platform, conduct cross-border joint patrols, and hold bird-watching science popularization exhibitions to make the protection actions more effective.

Professor Jiang Aiwu of the Forestry College of Guangxi University pointed out that the border area of China and Vietnam is an important treasure trove of global biodiversity, with many species distributed only in this region. "Constructing effective cross-border ecological corridors is crucial for regional and global ecological security." He believes that the long-term observations of the recorders from the public not only accumulate data for research but also, through vivid images, plant the seeds of ecological protection in the hearts of the public, promoting the formation of a consensus on cross-border ecological protection.

Now, Lin Xiwen is planning a new plan - he intends to select the bird images from the past nine years to compile a guidebook, preserving a visual archive full of life warmth for the cross-border ecological corridor.