Anyone who’s been to Hong Kong in the summer knows that it’s hot and humid. So steamy you could become human dim sum. Even winters are relatively mild. The reason behind this lies in one of China’s newly planned national parks.

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Anyone who’s been to Hong Kong in the summer knows that it’s hot and humid. So steamy you could become human dim sum . Even winters are relatively mild. The reason behind this lies in one of China’s newly planned national parks.

Hi, I’m Kyle Obermann, Nature Contributor for the China Current, showing China’s wild side.

Hong Kong’s year-round subtropical climate is due in part to the Nanling Mountains a few hundred kilometers to the north in Guangdong Province. During winter, this range blocks cold fronts from the north and keeps Guangdong and its southern neighbors, Hong Kong and Macau, warm. This range also hosts a brilliant variety of species, including 192 of China’s protected plant and animal species like the pangolin and the extremely rare and endangered Chinese crocodile lizard. It’s no exaggeration to say this is southern China’s most important mountain range.

Guangdong is planning its first national park in these mountains, and though the park does not reach Hong Kong, because the mountains affect Hong Kong’s climate and even bird migrations, they are calling the park an “ecological protective screen” for Guangdong, Macau, and Hong Kong.

The intentional linking of nature between Guangdong and Hong Kong is part of a new trend to coordinate greater environmental protection across China. Officials are also attempting to further connect the ecologies of Hong Kong and Shezhen, which border each other, by creating wildlife corridors via a coordinated park system.

Last year, Hong Kong leadership published plans for the creation of a new protected area, Robin’s Nest Country Park, on the border of Shenzhen. This would be the first new country park in Hong Kong since 2008. Just across the border lies Shenzhen’s Wutong Mountain Scenic Area. Officials hope these two parks will create a cross-border ecological corridor as this is the only highly vegetated natural land area existing between the two cities.

Although humans love to create boundaries and borders, nature doesn’t recognize the fences and maps we create. Across the globe, cross-border ecosystem protection is an important issue as we move towards a green future. Perhaps examples like these can show how.