Town in China’s Hainan finds prosperity through protecting ecology, developing industries

Yanfeng town in Haikou, capital of south China’s Hainan Province, has found a path to prosperity by ensuring a sound ecology and developing thriving industries such as ecological farming and rural tourism in recent years.

Photo shows egrets in the Dongzhai Port National Nature Reserve. (Photo/Xinhua)

The town is home to the Dongzhai Port National Nature Reserve, the first wetland-type national nature reserve for the mangrove ecosystem in China.

In recent years, the reserve has restored 4,523 mu (about 301.5 hectares) and and added 4,731 mu of mangrove forests, explained Feng Erhui, a forestry engineer at the reserve’s management bureau, adding that the total area of the reserve has increased from 23,670 mu in 2013 to 26,565 mu today. The water quality of the reserve has reached Grade III (good quality) under the country’s five-tier water quality system.

According to Feng, the number of bird species documented in the reserve has increased from 180 to 229, and that of fish species has risen from 129 to 165. More than 30,000 migratory birds stop over in the reserve every year.

Feng has also been promoting bee raising in the reserve’s mangrove forests. “Bee pollination contributes to the natural restoration of mangrove forests and helps boost people’s incomes,” Feng said, noting that locally produced honey has been well-received by the market. Raising bees has been promoted in other mangrove forest protected areas.

At a modern agricultural industrial park, which covers an area of 1,400 mu and is built on saline-alkali soil, the fish (shrimp)-rice co-culture system has been promoted, which helps to contain water pollution. Because of the industrial park, residents of nearby villages closed their fish ponds and shrimp ponds.

At present, 22 village collective economic organizations and 15 households have joined the industrial park and received dividends from it. Villages get at least 2 million yuan (about $290,204) in dividends from the industrial park each year. More than 20 villagers work in the park, earning a monthly income of over 6,000 yuan.

At the same time, rural tourism has flourished in Yanfeng town. In 2022, the town welcomed 241,500 tourists, generating a tourism income of more than 37.3 million yuan. In particular, Fangyuan village in the town received 179,000 tourists last year, and its collective income reached 12.1 million yuan. The annual per capita income of residents in the village rose from 21,000 yuan in 2018 to 42,000 yuan in 2022.