From 26th to 30th in August, 2019, 21st-Century Maritime Cooperation Committee held the Workshop on “Marine Ecology Conservation and Management” at Minjiang University. The Workshop was hosted by 21st-Century Maritime Cooperation Committee (hereinafter referred to as “the Committee”) and undertaken by Minjiang University. It aims to promote the daily work of the Committee, further deepen the exchanges and cooperation among the Committee members, and expand the influence and cohesion of the Committee. The participants included more than 10 government officials from Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago and Pakistan as well as over 10 experts and scholars from 8 universities and research institutes such as Tsinghua University, Xiamen University and Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences.

The Workshop was diverse in form and rich in content. We scheduled 6 lectures to share in-depth discussions with participants on marine plankton diversity and ecological cycle, marine microbial diversity and ecological importance, marine fishery resources, advances in marine biodiversity conservation and sustainable technologies utilization and marine plastic waste management. Besides taking lectures, the participants visited Institute of Oceanography of Mingjiang University and Ocean World-Europark to observe marine microbes under microscopes and study the marine zooplankton and bottom-dwelling creatures in the seabed and their living environment, in order to fully understand the marine biodiversity and the necessity of marine protection. They also visited Zhenghe Historical Exhibition Hall, Zhenghe Square, and Three Lanes and Seven Alleys to understand the history and culture of Fuzhou and its important position as a strategic pivot city in the core area of Maritime Silk Road.

The Workshop had a good impact with evident effectiveness. During the event, 6 local government officials filled out the membership application form to show their intention to join the Committee. Moreover, all the participants expressed that they have learned a lot via the Workshop, which will help them build a better maritime city. They hope to participate more activities of the Committee in the future and strengthen the cooperation between their cities and Fuzhou in fisheries, agriculture, trade, etc. They also visited the abalone breeding site in Lianjiang County. After the visit, Mr. Mohamed Naseem, Mayor of Beruwala, said that Beruwala plans to vigorously develop the aquaculture, and he sincerely welcomes Fuzhou enterprises to invest the industry in his city. He also promised to provide 9.5 hectares of coastal land and related policy support. Meanwhile, he hopes that this type of workshop could be conducted in Sri Lanka in the future so that more local people could learn marine knowledge from it. 

The Workshop on “Marine Ecology Conservation and Management” was an important special event of the Committee this year. It has created a new dialogue and exchange platform for the countries along the Maritime Silk Road to explore marine ecological protection, marine industry development and to deepen practical cooperation, promoted the dialogue and linkage mechanism among cities and regions along the “Belt and Road”, which have achieved exemplary results. The Committee will continue to organize a variety of activities to build a broad “Belt and Road” maritime cooperation and exchange platform for promoting exchanges and pragmatic cooperation between port cities and international organizations, so as to further the development of Maritime Fuzhou and the core area of Maritime Silk Road.