WWT and wetland centres around the world
Your nearest WWT wetland centre is one of 10 around the UK. But did you know we’ve also helped to design and create dozens more wetland centres around the world?
So if you go to Dubai, check out the 20,000 birds at the Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary. Or if you’re lucky enough to get to Hong Kong, visit the Hong Kong Wetland Park which opened in 2006. And there are many, many more around the world bearing WWT’s hallmarks of a fun, relaxing day out getting close to nature.
Wetland centres are great for education too. In the same way that kids learn how trees produce oxygen, wetland centres show them how nature stores and cleans our drinking water, or buffers us from flooding or drought. Part of the reason they are such nice places to visit is that we are naturally drawn to wildlife and water - because it’s good for us.
The wetland centre concept is so successful that there are now plenty of other wetland creators around since WWT first began at Slimbridge in 1946.
We don’t see these as competitors. We see them as friends and partners. We even created an international “club” called Wetland Link International (WLI) so that wetland centres can share good ideas and provide each other with an international support network.
For example, being a member of WLI helps Taiwan’s oldest and most prominent wetland centre, Guandu Nature Park, to be part of efforts to protect the major bird migration route that runs along the Asia Pacific coast, because WLI sits outside politics (as does nature!).
In the photos you’ll see WWT staff comparing notes with staff from the Wild Bird Society of Taipei, who manage Guandu in the same way that WWT manages wetland centres like London (Barnes).
There are a lot of similarities. Like London, Guandu has a beautiful vista of sparkling wetlands framed by the backdrop of the nation’s capital; it attracts about 150,000 visitors a year; it provides learning experiences to thousands of children from urban areas who don’t usually get out among nature; and at both reserves, HSBC help to extend those experiences to children from disadvantaged areas as part of their Water Programme.
Like WWT, the Wild Bird Society of Taipei is active in neighbouring China, helping to design new wetland centres along the Pacific coast. Both organisations see that, while it’s important to invite people to get close to people at our own wetland centres, it’s just as important to get out into communities and help people get close to nature where they live too.
Indeed at the same time as WWT was visiting Taiwan, our commercial arm – WWT Consulting – was visiting Dongtan National Wetland Park near Shanghai Airport in China where new education facilities are currently being built. Meanwhile our Chief Executive, Martin Spray CBE, was the only non-Chinese representative at a coastal restoration conference in Panjin, north east China, where he showcased WWT Steart Marshes in Somerset’s value as a “working wetland” for people and wildlife.
So whether you’re in London, Taipei, Dubai, Hong Kong, Shanghai or anywhere else in the world, on your travels do look up the nearest wetland centre. They are a great international movement doing great work in communities worldwide. They’ll appreciate your support and give you a warm welcome wherever you are.
(With huge thanks to the Chou Ta-Kuan Cultural & Educational Foundation of the Republic of China in Taiwan for enabling WWT to travel to Taipei in 2017 and meet the staff at Guandu Nature Park)
