Construction of a memorial park for the XIX International Botanical Congress started at the Futian Mangrove Ecological Park yesterday. At a launch ceremony held by the Shenzhen Municipal Government, 20 experts in the botanical sciences left their handprints on clay templates and wrote their signatures along with words about the memorial park in a booklet. They included Wei-Hua WU, president of the Congress’ organizing committee, De-Yuan HONG and Jia-Yang LI, academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Friedrich Ehrendorfer, an academician of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and Vernon Heywood, an emeritus professor at the University of Reading. Besides calling for the public’s awareness of the need to care for plants and the future, which echoes the Congress’ slogan, the establishment of the memorial park also aimed to showcase the government’s contributions to the maintenance of ecological balance and the protection of ecological diversity. The government also hopes to raise the public’s awareness and support of botanical research. The location was selected by the Congress’ organizing committee and the Futian District Government, with the latter overseeing construction as well as operation and management. Several reasons account for the choice of the Futian Mangrove Ecological Park for the location of the memorial park. First of all, the botanical congress is a forum closely related to ecology, and the park is suitable in this aspect. Secondly, the establishment of the park would not only enrich Shenzhen’s history, but also put a stamp on the historical event. Additionally, the public would be enabled to participate in the park’s construction, ecological recovery and oversight. In terms of design, the park stands out as a candidate due to its unique design. The park management only modifies and enhances the original soil and clears invasive species, leaving the rest to natural evolution. (Lei Kaibin) | 