Baseline:
Community environment status:
Community environmental problems include behaviors such as garbage entering the sea, indiscriminate fishing, and illegal fishing in the community. The villagers have a weak awareness of marine protection, and policies such as fishing bans have an impact on the livelihood development of the villagers;
Community environmental facilities: The community waste is collected by the village cleaners, transported to the village garbage transfer station, and then uniformly transported to the garbage disposal station on Hailing Island. Pinglan Village spends more than 200,000 yuan a year on environmental financial expenses and temporarily does not charge community residents garbage fees; there are classified trash cans next to the village road, but garbage classification is not really implemented;
Environmental problems in the park: Spartina alterniflora is flooding, occupying the space for mangrove growth; there is a lot of marine debris, which damages the growth of mangroves
Socioeconomic Status:
Community industrial structure: The community is dominated by marine fishing and aquaculture, with no heavy industry but a small amount of seafood processing industry and light industry. The community's work plan for the next five years is to focus on the construction of mangrove supporting tourism industry facilities. Currently, three companies (cooperatives) have been introduced, and the community business will be mainly agricultural tourism, including fishing, homestays, agricultural picking, agricultural experience, etc., which may be reflected within two years.
Economic income of community residents: The employment of villagers is mainly divided into three major sectors - labor export, fishing, and gathering seafood on the beach when the tide is ebbing, and a small part is engaged in aquaculture; the villagers engaged in fishing have an annual income of about 70,000-80,000. At present, the village secretary has a greater willingness to sell products through e-commerce.
Income from gathering seafood on the beach when the tide is ebbing: The price of small clams sold to the market is 5 yuan per catty, and clams 10 yuan per catty. Smaller clams will be dug back and raised before they are sold; the price of sandworms sold is more than 200 yuan per catty. The people who gather seafood on the beach when the tide is ebbing are basically the elderly and women, whose monthly income is 2,000-3,000 yuan. Some villagers provide tourists with services of gathering seafood on the beach when the tide is ebbing, and the fee is 80 yuan per tourist;
Tourism: The peak season of tourism is from May to November, and the low season is from December to April. The tourists are mainly parents and their children. Most tourists are local citizens of Yangjiang. The other tourists are mainly from the Guangdong Province, especially the Pearl River Delta and western Guangdong.

Grantee?s projects in Guangdong:
In 2021, with the support of forestry authorities at all levels and the promotion of the local government, the grantee, together with the Cognac brand Martell and the Guangdong Yangjiang Hailing Island Mangrove National Wetland Park Management and Protection Center, jointly launched the Hailing Island Mangrove Wetland Protection and Restoration Project. This is the first mangrove protection and restoration project in Yangjiang that has introduced social forces and is jointly participated by government administration departments, non-governmental non-profit organizations, local communities, and enterprises. This project is also an active exploration to encourage social capital to participate in ecological protection and restoration and to encourage enterprises, non-profit organizations, etc., to cooperate with the government to build ecological civilization.
Others: Hailing Island Mangrove National Wetland Park, as a natural education base in Guangdong Province, not only has established the infrastructure but also has excellent natural ecological resources that can be used as natural education materials, and its popularity can also support the transformation and development of a sustainable industry in the future significantly.

Main problems and needs?
Guangdong Hailing Island Mangrove National Wetland Park plays an important role in protecting the coast and maintaining biodiversity. On December 25, 2019, the park passed the review of the State Forestry and Grassland Administration as the 2019 pilot national wetland park and officially became a "National Wetland Park". With the economic and production activities of residents in the surrounding communities and the gradual increase of tourists after the park opens, there are uncertainties in the ecological security function and resource regeneration of wetland parks and the surrounding environment. Regarding the protection and utilization of mangrove wetlands, there are potential conflicts between protected areas and surrounding communities. In-depth analysis and research on this issue have not yet been conducted, let alone a solution to reach a consensus.
The maintenance of the relationship between the wetland park and the surrounding communities and the scientific guidance for tourists are still in the initial stage. The protected area management agency lacks relevant management and supervision systems for the use of mangrove wetlands (such as gathering seafood on the beach when the tide is ebbing), so there are no restrictions on gathering seafood on the beach. The lack of restrictions can lead to potential safety risks for tourists as they may go to the sea by themselves and intertwining villagers and tourists during the peak period of gathering seafood on the beach, apart from affecting the biological resources of mangrove wetlands, which has not yet been assessed.
In recent years, with the relaxation of the regulatory policy on fishing boats going to sea, the number of fishing boats in local communities has surged, and there has been a shortage of fishing boats docking in ports. This is especially true in bad weather when some boats can only dock in the mangrove area of the wetland park, resulting in the compression of mangrove growth space and the damaged mangroves to some extent.
Guangdong Hailing Island Mangrove National Wetland Park is located in the east of Hailing Island, with a certain distance from other famous scenic spots on Hailing Island. Its popularity is lower than that of other scenic spots on the island, and the income of residents in surrounding communities is lower than that of residents in other scenic spots on the island. The income source of local residents on the island mainly relies on traditional fishing and gathering seafood on the beach when the tide is ebbing. How to develop eco-tourism to improve the income of community residents while maintaining the local ecological environment and to obtain livelihood alternatives has become a more urgent need.

Activities:
Activity 1.
Project Activity 1. Demonstration of a new model of sustainable beachcombing
1.1 Invite experts and scholars to visit the community and put forward their opinions on the rational use of beachcombing resources, and hold two symposiums with the theme of "mangrove protection and scientific beachcombing" to explain the importance of scientific beachcombing and protecting biodiversity;
1.2 Hold a workshop with the theme of "Developing Norms and Standards for the Sustainable Utilization of Mangrove Natural Resources", and discuss with community representatives to agree on norms and standards and township rules and regulations for rational and scientific utilization of beachcombing resources and discuss how to promote and encourage villagers participate in the implementation;
1.3 Use the norms and standards for the sustainable use of mangrove natural resources as a publicity board, and place the board in the community and mangrove wetland parks for publicity; use the village history museum or village culture room, mangrove wetland park, and village radio to promote the sustainable use of mangrove natural resources.
1.4 Design publicity materials about the sustainable utilization of mangrove natural resources; shoot a promotional video on the theme of "protecting mangroves" from the perspective of the community.
Activity 2.
Project Activity 2. Establish an ecological tour guide team to help the transformation of community livelihoods
2.1 Assist the community in establishing a mangrove protection team through election among villagers;
2.2 Organize management groups, nature education interest groups, and village cadres to visit and study in similar sustainable communities;
2.3 Provide small grant opportunities to encourage and assist the management team in establishing and actually promoting work plans of community participation in mangrove protection and sustainable beachcombing.
2.4 Establish interest groups for villagers' mangrove park nature education;
2.5 Integrate natural resources in the mangrove park, beachcombing resources, the knowledge of scientific beachcombing and of the importance of wetlands, etc., to help interest groups form and master a systematic research course;
2.6 Assist the interest groups in independently holding one beachcombing activity for tourists and holding one live beachcombing activity. During the live broadcast, the village educator will give a lecture, introducing the beachcombing process and disseminating the concept of sustainable utilization of mangrove resources to the public.
Activity 3.
Project Activity 3. Fishing boats have docks to stop, and mangroves thrive
3.1 Experts are invited to find suitable boat docking bays around the mangrove wetland park, and the project team will negotiate with the village committee and the park administration office to form an alternative plan for fishing boat docking;
3.2 Convene two symposiums for fishermen who do not have docks to stop their boats, finally forming mangrove protection and stopping guide groups, and discussing fishing boat docking rules and administration with mutual supervision and guidance for wrong docking from boat owners
3.3 Develop a publicity board for docking to clarify the docking position

Anticipated results
expected outcome
The sustainable beachcombing model is widely recognized by the community, and the ecological environment of mangroves in the wetland park is protected
The capacity of communities to self-organize and participate in community public affairs is improved, contributing to the transformation of community livelihoods, and protecting wetland biodiversity, and the marine environment and coastal habitats are improved
There are new docking bays for fishing boats, and the number of boats docked in the mangrove area dramatically reduces. The mangrove seedlings are effectively protected and can grow smoothly, and the ecological environment of the wetland is protected.