Chinese farmer wins GNF award for lake conservation

NANCHANG, Nov. 2 ,2006 -- A Chinese farmer in east China's Jiangxi Province was given on Thursday the "Living Lakes Best Conservation Practice Award" of the Global Nature Fund (GNF).

Ye Jiuyi, 52, was awarded the prize for his decade-long efforts in protecting migratory birds in his Wucheng Town, a key habitat of migratory birds in the Poyang Lake, China's biggest freshwater lake.

Ye also publicized the protection of migratory birds among villagers, according to the 11th World Living Lakes Conference held Wednesday and Thursday in Nanchang, the provincial capital.

Four other Chinese institutions, including two nature reserve administration bureaus and a university environmental protection agency, also won the prize.

The prize was set in 1998 by the GNF to award persons and institutions that have made remarkable contribution to nature conservation and environmental protection.