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1,000-m-long painting kicks off HK wetland events

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-10-18 12:08

HONG KONG: More than 2,000 people created a 1,000-meter-long painting with the theme of birds and wetlands in Hong Kong on Saturday, in a bid to set a Guinness world record and kick off an event series for World Wetlands Day 2010.

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Hong Kong's World Wetlands Day events for 2010 would be in the form of a bird-watching festival that runs from October to February next year, said sources with the Hong Kong Wetland Park, which co-organized the events with local authorities and organizations.

From October 2009 to February 2010, a series of events would be rolled out to raise public awareness of wetland ecology and the effects of climate change on the bio-diversity of wetlands, according to the Park sources.

Highlights of the events series would include bird-watching guided tours, thematic exhibitions, the premiere of a short film on the black-faced spoonbill, the launch of a guide to birds of Hong Kong, public lectures, among others.

The World Wetlands Day has been celebrated internationally each year on February 2 since 1997 to commemorate the signing of the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance in Ramsar, Iran, on February 2, 1971. The international theme for World Wetlands Day 2010 is "Wetlands, Bio-diversity and Climate Change."

Many migratory birds fly to Hong Kong from mid-October to the following February. The Hong Kong Wetland Park, located in northern Hong Kong, has recorded over 230 bird species, accounting for about 50 percent of those found in Hong Kong.