Pacific Environment Launches "Save China's Seas" Network

May 15th, 2004

Within China's borders are four seas, 18,000 kilometers of coastline and more than 13 million hectares of shallow seas and tidelands. These inland and costal waters are home to some of the world s most unique marine species, more than 20,000 in all. Modern ailments of pollution, deforestation, lack of funding and enforcement of conservation initiatives, population pressure, an emphasis on resource use over conservation, and the diversion of rivers have endangered many of these species, some near to extinction.

Facing these threats, a network of scientists, academics, NGOs, students, and media professionals in China recently announced the formation of the Save China's Seas Network. Wen Bo, Pacific Environment's Beijing-based representative, will act as a coordinator of the network, developing an internet-based medium for facilitating communication between the participants. The Save China Seas Network will allow for information sharing and coordinated outreach campaigns to build a marine conservation movement in China.

As a top priority, the SCS network will develop cooperative strategies to address the trade in endangered marine species that is rampant in China s coastal regions. Coral and sea turtles, for example, are critical to the health of China s marine biodiversity, but are being smuggled from Southeast Asia in dangerous quantities. Awareness about this issue is extremely low among Chinese consumers, and SCS members will take the lead on bringing these issues to the surface.

SCS will also address the more general crisis of unsustainable fishing that is plaguing China's seas. While the majority of efforts to protect the biological diversity of the oceans have focused on traditional conservation, a growing movement has attempted to help consumers focus on how their dietary choices affect our oceans bounty. The SCS Network will attempt to reach the Chinese consumer using a number of creative outreach tools.

SCS will also address the disconnect between environmental research and activism. Many of Pacific Environment's Chinese partners claim that too often, grassroots NGOs lack the scientific data to back up their conservation campaigns, leaving them without the necessary credibility to influence government policy. Conversely, after carrying out comprehensive research with the potential to influence environmental policies, marine experts often do not have the capacity or tools to disseminate their findings, leaving large stores of compelling information untapped and inaccessible to the public. Through SCS, Pacific Environment will provide a bridge between these two sectors. We expect that overcoming the historic disconnect between these communities will have a broad positive impact on marine conservation in China, ensuring that science, government relations, grassroots involvement and popular understanding are all aligned toward similar conservation goals.

 SCS members have noted the tremendous increase of environmental media coverage in China in the last decade. A recent survey found that, while on average, Chinese newspapers carried only 125 articles on environmental issues in 1994, the number had mushroomed to 630 by 1999. Beyond print media, environmental issues are increasingly common in TV documentaries, advertisements and educational shows. At the same time, despite grassroots NGOs increasing effectiveness at engaging their local media, hundreds of inspiring or provoking on-the-ground stories remain untold among the Chinese public. The SCS Network hopes to connect these stories of local community conservation activities to a broad network of concerned journalists throughout the country.

Finally, the SCS Network will utilize the ever-growing popularity of the Internet as a major organizing tool. The SCS seeks to promote direct participation, self-organizing, free information exchange and community action where in otherwise is not tolerated in Chinese society. As China Scholar Guobin Yang observes, in a draconian political system, cyberspace offers relatively free spaces for civil society activities.

Pacific Environment hopes to harness this popular communication tool in order to facilitate the growth of a coordinated, information-rich network that connects activists despite their geographic remoteness. This approach is consistent with Pacific Environment's mission to connect grassroots environmentalists with their fellow citizens using the most effective, culturally relevant and cutting-edge methods as possible.