2025 World Coastal Forum opens in Yancheng, E China's Jiangsu

A welcome ceremony for new partners joining the 2025 World Coastal Forum (WCF) in Yancheng, east China's Jiangsu Province, Sept. 24, 2025. (Photo courtesy of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Yancheng Municipal Committee)

The 2025 World Coastal Forum (WCF) opened Sept. 24, 2025 in Yancheng, east China's Jiangsu Province, bringing together more than 300 delegates from 36 countries to address global coastal conservation challenges and sustainable development strategies.

The forum marked the debut of the Global Coastal Ecosystem Status Report, a comprehensive analysis evaluating 13 distinct coastal habitat types across the globe, tracking their geographic spread, population trends and environmental pressures.

Participation surged as the forum's institutional partnerships jumped from 15 to 25 organizations. Host city Yancheng showcased its coastal management achievements and advocated for strengthened international partnerships in environmental protection and carbon-reduction efforts during the event's launch.

Yang Zhen, vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), Xin Changxing, secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Jiangsu Provincial Committee, and Guan Zhiou, minister of natural resources, shared their insights on coastal ecosystem conservation at the forum.

Yancheng's vast wetland system spans 769,600 hectares and accounts for 27.2 percent of the total in Jiangsu. It supports remarkable biodiversity, with 447 bird species — nearly one-third of China's avian population.

The 2025 World Coastal Forum (WCF) opens in Yancheng, east China's Jiangsu Province, Sept. 24, 2025. (Photo courtesy of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Yancheng Municipal Committee)

Red-crowned cranes at a wetland in east China's Jiangsu Province. (Photo/Sun Huajin)

Milu deer search for food at a milu deer park in Dafeng district, Yancheng city, east China's Jiangsu Province. (People's Daily Online/Zhou Mengjiao)

A wetland in Yancheng city, east China's Jiangsu Province. (Photo/Sun Huajin)

Birds forage at Tiaozini Wetland in east China's Jiangsu Province. (People's Daily Online/Zhou Mengjiao)

The Yellow Sea National Forest Park, China's largest coastal plain forest, east China's Jiangsu Province. (People's Daily Online/Zhou Mengjiao)

An offshore wind power project in Yancheng, east China's Jiangsu Province. (Photo/Sun Huajin)