On November 12, an orienteering event kicked off along the Bizhou Waterway Greenway in Nansha District, Guangzhou. The activity attracted nearly a hundred participants, including local residents and young volunteers from Hong Kong, Macao, and Shenzhen.
The event began with a beach cleanup at the Mangrove Science Promenade in Tantou Village, Nansha Sub-district. Guided by professional mangrove conservation volunteers, participants meticulously cleared stranded waste such as plastic products and discarded fishing nets from the mudflats, followed by centralized sorting, weighing, and recording of the collected waste.
After the cleanup, a 4-kilometer fun orienteering race officially started, integrating knowledge of river protection into challenge-based tasks. "With blue skies and clear waters on one side and lush greenery on the other, running and completing tasks in such an environment not only exercised my body but also deepened my understanding of ecological protection. It truly allowed me to experience the charm of Nansha's 'Most Beautiful Coastline,'" said Zhou Xiaonan, a young volunteer from Hong Kong.
Volunteer Zhong Shexuan from Macao and Dong Junhua, a team member from Shenzhen, also expressed that Nansha's ecological embankment and coastal greenway left a lasting impression on them. The experience of working together with young people from the four regions to protect their shared water environment strengthened their sense of identity with the joint river and lake governance efforts in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
The event adopted a "Sports + River Protection" model, creating a platform for interaction and collaboration among young people from Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Macao, and Shenzhen. Through joint participation in beach cleanups and challenge tasks, the youths gained a deeper understanding of Guangzhou's water conditions and further engaged in the country's development.
Reporter: Liang Shiting
Photo: Youth Volunteer Association of Nansha
Editor: Wei Shen, James Campion, Shen He
