On September 4，2025, the Shenzhen Municipal Government Information Office held a press conference on the "Several Measures to Support Shenzhen in Further Comprehensively Deepening Reforms in the Field of Natural Resources." This document is the first issued by a national ministry following the Central Committee and State Council’s guiding opinion, and it is also the first comprehensive urban spatial governance reform plan provided by the Ministry of Natural Resources to Shenzhen. The measures explicitly prioritize "building and utilizing the International Mangrove Center (IMC) effectively" as a key task, providing strong policy support and development opportunities for the center’s growth.
Shenzhen City
Prof. Bao Daming, Director General of the IMC Interim Secretariat, stated at the conference that the inclusion of "building and utilizing the IMC effectively" as the foremost task in the measures fully reflects the firm determination of central and local governments to implement President Xi Jinping’s important directives and their high expectations for Shenzhen to play a pioneering and demonstrative role. This has injected strong momentum into the IMC’s development. The Secretariat will focus on five key areas: projecting a strong national image, building an international platform, telling China’s stories effectively, leveraging Shenzhen’s strengths, and strengthening the IMC’s institutional development to truly realize the vision of building and utilizing the IMC effectively.
Prof. Bao Daming further noted that with the IMC’s growing international influence, Zimbabwe and the Republic of Sudan have recently joined the IMC, bringing the total number of prospective member countries to 20. As the third city in China, after Beijing and Shanghai, to host the headquarters of an intergovernmental international organization, Shenzhen is fully leveraging its role as the host city by treating the IMC’s development as a major task in deepening reforms in natural resources. The city is providing comprehensive support in areas such as personnel, venues, funding, and international exchanges, laying a solid foundation for the IMC’s establishment.
Currently, the IMC’s Establishment Agreement is about to come into effect, and the first council meeting is soon to be convened. The IMC will continue to uphold its mission and work towards its goals by fostering greater international consensus and action, innovating funding mechanisms, and attracting more countries and international organizations to join. It will actively promote international actions for mangrove conservation and restoration, establish a global platform for educational and awareness-raising collaborations, summarize and share successful cases of mangrove conservation worldwide, and build a system for knowledge sharing and technology transfer. Additionally, the IMC will explore mechanisms to realize the value of ecological products while balancing conservation and economic development, striving to position Shenzhen as a global hub for funding, knowledge, and action coordination in mangrove wetland conservation.