Promoting conservation tourism in China

At the end of October, Blue Ventures staff visited the tropical island of Hainan in southern China to promote our award-winning conservation tourism expeditions and to cement our partnership with new conservation organisation ChinaBlue.

During the week-long mission, our staff introduced our globally acclaimed expeditions and conservation programmes in Madagascar and Belize at a conference, a public lecture and during several meetings. Audiences ranged from the general public to government officials, and also encompassed representatives from the tourism sector, as well as academics from several Chinese research institutions.

We also visited a number of fishing villages and aquaculture farms around Hainan to better understand the species caught and harvested, and were very fortunate to tour Dongzhia Mangroves. Dongzhia is China’s largest mangrove area and home to a successful ecotourism project that is safeguarding the future of the forests by creating alternative livelihoods for the communities that would otherwise depend upon them for food and income.

The mission also provided an important opportunity to explore opportunities for partnership with ChinaBlue, a newly formed conservation organisation dedicated to promoting sustainable fisheries and aquaculture through research, communication and capacity building. Watch this space as things develop!