Twenty-four young students braved the freezing cold -27 C to stand on a monitoring tower that overlooks the borders of China and Russia.

 

It was part of a lesson in conservation, and China's efforts in the protection of the wetlands that cover the area.

 

"I didn't know we had such extensive wetlands. Despite the cold, the visit was well worth it and a valuable lesson," said Zhu Kaiyuan, 12, a grade 6 student at Fuyuan No 2 Primary School in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

 

"It is good for China, a country with a big population, to preserve such areas."

 

Zhu was briefed on the conservation of wetlands by the two United Nations (UN) volunteers during the trip to the tower.

 

The purpose of the visit was to interest young volunteers in conservation and to create such interest in school groups.

 

"Public awareness of conservation is the key to sustainable development of the eco-systems," said Shant Raj Jnawali, one of the two volunteers. He is a wetlands biodiversity conservation specialist for the United Nations Development Project (UNDP) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) in China.

 

The event was one of many volunteer activities held yesterday to mark International Volunteer Day, which was established by the UN General Assembly in December 1985.

 

Last year, more than 8,100 UN volunteers in various fields worked in 144 countries worldwide. More than 76 percent of them were from the developing nations.

 

China has made marked progress in the number of volunteer projects being offered. About 18 million volunteers and 80,000 community-based volunteer groups have participated in the scheme, according to the China News Website.

 

In the past year, China's Communist Youth League has sent about 6,500 college volunteers to work in poverty-stricken areas of the country.

 

China has also greatly extended its volunteer presence overseas. The Communist Youth League has sent 109 volunteers to countries including Laos, Thailand and Ethiopia since May 2002.

 

"China has a lot of people serving as volunteers through the government's efforts," said John Floretta, United Nations Volunteers Program Manager in China.

 

"Volunteer work in China is a little bit different to that in western countries. But it is going in the right direction."

 

(China Daily December 6, 2006)