Ningbo leads way in national youth nature journaling movement

The city of Ningbo – located in East China's Zhejiang province – has become the pioneering city in China to launch the nation's first green book on nature journaling, representing a significant step forwards in the ecological education of young people.

The 2025 Nature Journaling Green Book was unveiled on June 3 at the National Youth Nature Journaling Campaign launch event held in Ningbo, coinciding with the city's activities for World Environment Day.

This comprehensive report is organized into five sections — covering an overview, special topics, hot issues, case studies and stories. These offer an in-depth analysis of the practice, value, challenges and future improvements of nature journaling nationwide.

Its purpose is to provide standardized guidelines for organizing nature journaling activities and to support educators with their theoretical frameworks.

Since its inception in 2018, the campaign has engaged over 500,000 young participants from more than 3,000 institutions across all 31 provinces and municipalities in China – resulting in over 200,000 submitted nature journal works. However, obstacles remain.

"Many regions face uneven development, lack qualified instructors, inconsistent evaluation standards, variable quality, limited social collaboration and difficulties integrating nature journaling into curricula. There is an urgent need for a scientific and professional guide," said Chen Hongyan, deputy director of the National Botanical Garden's Science Education Center and chief editor of the book.

Ningbo experts played a crucial role in authoring four chapters of the book and a raft of local nature journaling mentors contributed extensively.

Ningbo's practices were also featured as an independent chapter, showing the city as a national model.

In fact, the city has created a "government-led, media-supported and society-shared" mechanism for ecological education – developing a replicable and scalable approach through its annual Youth Nature Journaling Competition.

Additionally, the event marked the official opening of China's first Youth Nature Journaling Camp at Wulongtan, a 4A-level national tourist area renowned for its dense forests and rich biodiversity in Ningbo.

The camp features great facilities such as a fern and butterfly nature experience center, a biodiversity monitoring station and outdoor observation sites – offering young participants a deep connection with nature.