from Rare
In 2010, Rare launched a program with seven local conservation partners to help preserve and protect China’s wetlands. This video shows how seven Rare Conservation Fellows, who call themselves the “Wetland Pioneers”, implemented Pride campaigns to inspire change in their communities. The Fellows used innovative social marketing and community outreach techniques to motivate fishers to stop destructive fishing behaviors and protect wetland ecosystems.
http://vimeo.com/69898784
China’s wetlands span 63 million hectares and account for 10 percent of the world’s wetland habitats. These wetlands are home to some of the world’s most endangered species and millions of people, whose livelihoods depend on the fish found there. In recent years, the state of China’s wetlands has deteriorated significantly, with fish populations in rapid decline. Destructive and unsustainable fishing practices have depleted wetland resources, impacting not only the livelihoods of surrounding communities, but also the habitat of many endangered species, including the Yangtze alligator, crested Ibis and finless porpoise.
By the conclusion of the Pride campaigns, all seven communities successfully signed and implemented co-management agreements between fishers, community members and the fishery bureau. The agreements commit to the adoption of behaviors that protect their livelihoods as well as threatened wetland habitat.
