On August 8, “Yunmengxing” summer practice team of the Law School of Beijing Normal University went to Yueyang city, Hunan province to investigate the ecological environment protection of Dongting Lake. After five days of running and interviewing, the practice team successfully completed its practical work on August 13 and set off for Beijing.
In the five days, regardless of hard work, the team members worked together, successfully completed the interview and investigation tasks, formed a series of research results, and released daily push in WeChat official account. Thus the original summer research goal was achieved.
On August 8, the first day of the practical work, the team arrived in Yueyang after a 12-hour drive. Upon packing up the luggage, we began to go to the first station of this practical activity——East Dongting Lake Natural Reserve Administration. We communicated with Director GAO who was in charge of legal work. In addition to interviews, we also obtained many valuable first-hand information.
On August 9, the second day of the summer practical work, five members of “Yunmengxing” practice team came to Yueyang Finless Porpoise Protection Association in the light rain to complete the day's practical tasks. The team members had a friendly communication with the president and staff of the association and made a detailed understanding of status quo of finless porpoise protection, the reason for the decrease in quantity, factors affecting the growth and reproduction of finless porpoise and relevant laws and regulations.
On August 10, the third day of summer practice, the team members went to Caisanghu Management Station of East Dongting Lake Natural Reserve and visited the base of the administrators. Through the interviews with the staff, we knew that in recent years, the number of birds in Dongting Lake had been increasing year by year, but the ecological problems still existed. Illegal activities such as killing birds with poison and fishing with electricity were still very serious. The improvement of laws and regulations was urgent. Unfortunately, the lake tour was not possible because of hot weather.
On August 11, invited by Finless Porpoise Protection Team of University of Science and Technology Beijing, “Yunmengxing” practice team gathered beside Dongting Lake to promote the knowledge of finless porpoise protection. After that, the practice team members and the practice team members of University of Science and Technology Beijing had a cordial conversation. The practice team members of University of Science and Technology Beijing introduced to us the relevant knowledge of finless porpoises in Dongting Lake, and we popularized the management system as well as laws and regulations of Dongting Lake to them. Both sides benefited a lot.
Through the conversation, “Yunmengxing” practice team realized the advantages and disadvantages of their respective practical work: The main goal of the practice team University of Science and Technology Beijing is to focus on the protection of finless porpoises in Dongting Lake, but they did not study the water quality and hydrological problems of Dongting Lake, the living conditions of other species as well as the management and legislation of Dongting Lake in depth; “Yunmengxing” practice team carried out the practical work from a more global perspective, because the problem of finless porpoise was actually the problem of whole Dongting Lake. After solving the problem of Dongting Lake, the status quo of finless porpoise will be greatly improved.
On August 12, the fifth day of the practice, the members of the practice team came to the lake, observed the water quality in three places, and made a preliminary investigation and analysis of the causes of water pollution based on the areas the lake flowed through, the surrounding environment, water color and pollution level. The team then returned to their residence. Since it was the holiday of the local government, they conducted telephone interviews with the local forestry bureau, environmental protection bureau and water supplies bureau, and got to know that there were still some ambiguities in the management and division of labor between bureaus. In the interview, they also learned about the responsibilities of the local environmental protection bureau, forestry bureau and water supplies bureau, the protection status of East Dongting Lake Wetland, the achievements of ecological protection, the sources of domestic water for local residents, and the official monitoring results of water quality in different sections of Dongting Lake.
On August 13, the team stepped on the train and left Yueyang, the practice area. In just 5 days, they harvested facts, experience and friendship and returned home full of achievements. As the saying goes, either your body or soul must be on the way. We believe that the mind and experience of the members became mature gradually on the way of marching forward. It is also the meaning of practice.
Correspondent: LIU Sihan
