On the morning of March 2, 2023, His Excellency Mr. Alain Wong Yen Cheong, Ambassador of the Republic of Mauritius to the People's Republic of China, was invited by Professor Lin Guanghui from the Department of Earth System Science (DESS), Tsinghua University to visit the DESS and render a lecture in the course, "Fundamentals and Frontiers of Ecology". During the lecture, the Ambassador had an in-depth exchange with faculty members and students of the DESS on topics such as biodiversity protection, marine environment and sustainable development.

Professor Lin Guanghui extended a warm welcome to Mr. Alain Wong Yen Cheong for his visit. According to Lin Guanghui, Ambassador Alain Wong Yen Cheong has gone through a legendary life, engaged in many different occupations and made great contributions to the exchanges and development between Mauritius and China.

Professor Lin Guanghui presented gifts to Ambassador Alain Wong Yen Cheong

Ambassador Alain Wong Yen Cheong noted that he was honored to visit Tsinghua and communicate with students. By showing video clips he introduced the history, beautiful natural scenery and environment of Mauritius extraordinarily rich in biodiversity. Drawing on his own experience, the Ambassador expounded the importance of protecting biodiversity and sustainable development. For example, he has coordinated scuba diving organizations with local fishermen to protect fish breeding grounds, and as a result fishing is only allowed outside the breeding grounds. With the improvement of the environment, fishermen have gained more, while a multi-win situation has been realized in tourism, fisheries and ecological diversity protection. The Ambassador also encouraged students not just to sit indoors and write papers, but also to take action, go into nature, apply their own research in action and contribute to biodiversity protection.

Finally, Professor Lin Guanghui presented Ambassador Alain Wong Yen Cheong with two books, China’s Mangroves Amidst Global Changes and Coastal Wetland Ecological Rehabilitation Technology and Its Application.

Group photo taken in the classroom

Written by Ye Shengbin and Xu Meng