Lew - a landmark to follow!
Dr. Llewellyn Young, known as Lew to his friends and colleagues, was a world-class advocate and practitioner in the field of the conservation and management of wetlands. Over 30 years, he left his footprints in wetlands all over the region, which are for us to follow. Nearly 17 years, he was the landmark that I followed.
I firstly met Lew in 2002 when we were both working for WWF. Lew was based in Hong Kong, while I was based in Beijing. Six years later, I followed his path and moved to Switzerland - he joined the Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention, while I joined WWF International. 16 years later, in 2018, I followed him again and moved to here – he joined the EAAFP and I joined the Green Climate Fund. While I have the list of things that Lew and I planned to do, but now, without him, it won’t be easy for me to figure out where to go, for my career and for a place to live.
I will continue to miss Lew and to mourn him as a former colleague, a dear friend, and my brother.To celebrate and remember his achievements here today, I’d like to share a few highlights.
As a manager of WWF Hong Kong Mai Po Nature Reserve from 1991 to 2008, Lew laid the foundations of the long-term, effective management of the Reserve.
Lew was instrumental in listing Mai Po Nature Reserve as the only Ramsar Site of Hong Kong. It has also become a model site for conservation of migratory waterbirds along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. The innovative approach to managing fisheries in the Reserve has seen Mai Po become an important habitat for the endangered black-faced spoonbill. That approach changed the mindset of wetlands nature reserve managers from the mainland China, and we called it the Mai Po Model.
His Wetlands Management Training Programme has trained nearly five thousands of Chinese wetland practitioners and managers, and hundreds of thousands of students and public visitors. He is the single most influential and popular mentor in wisely managing Chinese wetlands.
Working for WWF and Ramsar respectively in Switzerland, we worked closely with each other to assist countries in the Asia and Pacific region to advance their wetlands agenda.
Among many examples, our collaboration helped to save the 2nd largest freshwater lake of China - the Poyang Lake, which is a crucial refuge for 1/3 of finless porpoise of the Yangtze River, 80% of oriental white storks, and over 95% of white cranes.Without the intervention of Ramsar Secretariat and Lew’s personal involvement, the Poyang Lake as the heaven for waterbirds would have become history.
Lew also established the Wetland Link International-Asia in 2006 and the Asian Waterbird Conservation Fund in 2005. Together with the Mai Po Model, Mai Po Wetlands Management Training Programme, these achievements are continued and remembered at Mai Po, in China, and in the region.
Together, we will follow his footprints in wetlands.