From September 22 to 25, the 5th World Biosphere Reserve Congress was held in Hangzhou. During a side session themed “Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Use”, Lishui presented its conservation practices centered on smart monitoring and ecological achievements exemplified by wilderness tea, comprehensively demonstrating the outcomes of building a “National Pioneer Zone for Biodiversity Conservation”. This showcased the “Lishui Experience” for global biodiversity conservation and sustainable use.

“Lishui has always prioritized ecological protection, designating 76.69% of its land as ecological priority areas to preserve habitats for all living beings,” shared Hu Xiaohong, Director of Lishui Ecology and Environment Bureau, discussing the city's efforts in establishing the “National Pioneer Zone for Biodiversity Conservation”.

Over the years, Lishui has systematically advanced ecological conservation, establishing a protected area system with the Baishanzu area at its core, covering key ecological zones across the region, and implementing integrated conservation and restoration projects for mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands, and deserts in the headwaters of the Ou River. These efforts have coordinated ecological management at the watershed level, with the ecological environment index ranking first in Zhejiang Province for 20 consecutive years, laying a solid foundation for biodiversity proliferation.

Lishui is also at the forefront of technology-enabled conservation. It pioneered a city-wide biodiversity baseline survey, clarifying the status of species, and established the first comprehensive smart monitoring system for biodiversity, enabling automated and intelligent monitoring of multiple species groups. Since 2019, 44 new global species have been discovered, shifting ecological conservation from “experience-based judgment” to “scientific precision”.

Additionally, initiatives such as Lishui’s “Biodiversity Experience Sites” and the moss industry in Maoyang Township, Jingning County (with an annual output value exceeding 20 million yuan), demonstrate win-win outcomes for ecology and the economy. The introduction of IP characters “The Green Lishui” and “The Blue Lishui”, along with the publication of the book series “Beautiful Mountains and Waters, Thriving Life”, communicates scientific knowledge with warmth.

Qingyuan Wilderness Tea exemplifies Lishui’s “eco-friendly prosperity”. During the case study segment, Yao Guangping, representative of Zhejiang Province and head of Wuyi Tea in Qingyuan County, shared the transformative journey of Qingyuan Wilderness Tea with international attendees.

In recent years, Qingyuan County has diligently advanced the protection and development of wilderness tea: creating a database of wilderness tea trees, publishing a protection catalog for ancient tea trees, and mapping distribution across nine areas, including Baishanzu and Jinzifeng. Core mountain tea trees are tagged for traceability. In April this year, Lishui also introduced the nation’s first local standard for wilderness tea. Currently, Qingyuan County has developed 116 wilderness tea products, six of which passed 289 SGS tests. In the first half of this year, Lishui’s wilderness tea production reached 46.1 tons, generating an impressive output value of 105 million yuan.

The transformation of wilderness tea not only validates the principle that “lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets” but also showcases Chinese practical approach of “balancing conservation and utilization” in biosphere reserves. “In the future, we aim to share wilderness tea cultivation techniques and conservation experiences, enabling more regions to achieve sustainable development through ecological industries,” Yao Guangping said.

At the event, Lishui also made its ecological achievements tangible through diverse mediums: the book series “Beautiful Mountains and Waters, Thriving Life”, the Lishui Biodiversity White Paper, and Longquan Celadon cups featuring biodiversity paintings served as gifts, blending ecological significance with cultural distinctiveness.